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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22457845">How To Tell Your Family You're Dead</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaperGlasses/pseuds/PaperGlasses'>PaperGlasses</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Danny Phantom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Origin Story, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Blood and Violence, Danny is Basically Peter Parker AU, Explicit Language, Fluff and Angst, Ghosts, If you think its a metaphor its probably a metaphor, Major Character Injury, Major Character Undeath, Major character death - Freeform, Mild Language, Minor Character Death, Minor but kinda Major Violence, Multi, Origin Story, Psychological Drama, Psychology, Science Experiments, Science Fiction, Teenage Drama, Time Travel, Trust Issues, Violence, idk man I'm trying, if you think its shipping its probably shipping, will add more tags as they become more apparent, will update as frequently as possible</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 16:48:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>45,147</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22457845</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaperGlasses/pseuds/PaperGlasses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The day Danny Fenton died should have held more profound meaning than a normal mid-summer school day. </p>
<p>Except he was on the field trip of a lifetime. It was the anniversary of his mother's death. And his crush, Samantha Manson, was thoroughly pissed at him. </p>
<p>Oh yeah, and he fell into an interdimensional portal and gained a set of superpowers. </p>
<p>But that was neither here nor there. </p>
<p>(Pretty much a Spiderman AU but, y'know. With Danny Phantom instead).</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Danny Fenton &amp; Jazz Fenton, Danny Fenton &amp; Vlad Masters, Danny Fenton/Dan Phantom, Danny Fenton/Sam Manson, Danny Fenton/Tucker Foley, Danny Fenton/Tucker Foley/Sam Manson, Jack Fenton/Maddie Fenton</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>157</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Heya guys! </p>
<p>So this is my first ever Danny Phantom work but not my first fic. So I'm only hoping that those will eventually mix well enough for you to enjoy this idea! </p>
<p>I watched the show as a kid when it first aired and didn't think much of it, but recently I fell into a black hole of 2000s nostalgia and have bordered on the fringe of hyperfixation for the little Nickelodeon show from my childhood. So of course, as a fic writer, I am legally obliged by God to ruin it. </p>
<p>I hope you guys enjoy this work, I have a few chapters written out already and I apologise for the likely slow burn this will be. But I'd love to hear your thoughts/comments/kudos/spelling mistake point-outs if you do enjoy it as to whether or not you'd like me to continue with this project or others in the future. </p>
<p>With that please enjoy the prologue and first few chapters of this story</p>
<p>- &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jack Fenton smiled dopily as he swept his wife into a kiss. She laughed at him, giggling as he pulled away.</p>
<p>“What was that for?” she asked, her beautiful violet eyes shining in amusement.</p>
<p>“Do I need a reason Maddie?” Jack grinned, watching her as she packed the dinner dishes into the washer. They had eaten stir fry for dinner and even now Jack could taste the salty twang of soy sauce at the back of his throat. A perfect meal for a perfect evening. He smiled, now the kids were upstairs he could tell her, “I got the job you know.”</p>
<p>She stopped loading the plates to swing back to him, eyes sparkling, “Oh Jack! I knew you could! That’s fantastic darling!” The light of the kitchen framed her auburn hair in a halo about her head, illuminating the constellations of her freckles and sun kissed cheeks. </p>
<p>He wrapped her in a hug, “Thank you babycakes, I could never have done it without you or the kids. Or Vladdy, of course.”</p>
<p>“Well now, Mr. Head Engineer of DALV corp. what would we do without you?” She pulled her hair up into a bun behind her head, the heat of the late-night kitchen causing sweat to bead at the nape of her neck. She stretched comically, pulling her arms up above her head, the silk of her turquoise dressing gown fluttering down like wings as she yawned. “I think its bedtime don’t you?” She smiled, glancing at the clock reading 10:15. “Certainly the kids should be in bed by now.”</p>
<p>Jack laughed, “Only if you can manage to pry that game controller from Danny’s hands.”</p>
<p>She smirked, “Try me. You’re on Jazz’s textbooks.”</p>
<p>The laughter on his lips died instantly, trying to part his daughter from her studies was like trying to dislocate her arms with a crowbar.</p>
<p>Maddie grinned, “Race you.”</p>
<p>Jack blinked, but before his brain had enough time to process the information his wife bolted, her slippers slamming into the floorboards as she ran upstairs to her son’s bedroom. “No fair!” Jack yelled back, his much heavier footfalls rattling the banister as he made it to Jazz’s room.</p>
<p>His 14-year-old daughter looked up at him curiously as he panted. “Dad, are you...?”</p>
<p>He held up a hand, “Just give me…a sec Jazzypants... It’s bedtime you know…”</p>
<p>She rolled her eyes, “You and Mom having another competition? Married couples are supposed to do things <em>together,</em> not against each other.”</p>
<p>Jack laughed, sitting down on the edge of his daughter’s bed with a groan. “Nothing wrong with a friendly competition Jazz, nothing wrong.” Without giving her a warning, he tackled her down to the mattress, tickling her side, right under the ribs. The sweet spot. Jazz snorted and laughed, trying to kick him off.</p>
<p>“Dad, stop!” she giggled, “you know I hate this!”</p>
<p>“Yes, but you have to admit it’s effective! Cheer up little monkey!”</p>
<p>He stopped and she smiled up at him, green eyes shining in amusement. “Night Dad.”</p>
<p>“Night Jazz,” he said, prying the psychology text out of her hands and placing it on the bedside table. “Mom will be in in a moment and I wouldn’t want her to find you nose deep in… what is this,” he looked quizzically at the book again, “‘<em>The Interpretation of Dreams’</em>? When was this even written? Looks like something even Granny would have considered old and dusty.”</p>
<p>“1900 Dad, it was one of Sigmund Freud’s greatest works.”</p>
<p>He blinked, “Am I supposed to know who that is?”</p>
<p>She smiled, “Only the father of psychoanalysis who was the first to use the method of psychotherapy. You know, the whole ‘patient on the couch’ scenario. Far more ethical than scaring the crazy out of people using electroshock therapy.”</p>
<p>Jack still didn’t get it. “I don’t get it,” he said, eyebrows knitting in confusion and she laughed.</p>
<p>“You wouldn’t Dad! There’s just not enough neuro-connections in your brain!”</p>
<p>“Hey! I’m plenty smart! Just… not as smart as you or your mother is all.” He mumbled defensively.</p>
<p>“Yeah well we can’t all be lining up for a Noble Prize when it comes to epigenetics.”</p>
<p>“No. No we certainly cannot can we. Sleep well Jazzypants.” Jack switched off the light, kissing his daughter gently on the forehead as he stood.</p>
<p>“You too Dad.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jack smiled as he turned from his daughter’s room and started towards his son’s. It was unusually quiet in the hallway and Jack could only assume that Danny had actually decided to go to bed early for once, which meant that Maddie would have had an easy victory. First kid to bed wins after all. That was the rules.</p>
<p>It was only when he was outside Danny’s glow-in-the-dark star-studded door did Jack think something was wrong. The air shifted and Jack felt a cold spike shoot through his spine, he shivered. That was odd, it was a warm October evening and the weatherman had predicted sun for the next week and a half. It was deathly still outside in the hall and Jack frowned, reaching for the doorknob to the second-floor bedroom.</p>
<p>It felt like touching an ice cube and Jack momentarily jumped in shock before he gripped the handle tighter and opened the door.</p>
<p>The first thing he noticed was Danny, asleep in the bed, peaceful and perfect in the faint glow of the streetlight filtering through the slits in the blinds.</p>
<p>The second was the blood. It covered the carpet, staining a thin trail that lead to the side of the bed and back out the door.</p>
<p>Jack’s heart stopped dead in his chest and he no longer cared about the cold, he burst into the room, running to the side of his son’s bed. Gripping his son’s shoulder, Jack shook him. Just like the door handle, Danny’s skin was ice cold like he’d been caught in a snowstorm. But he was <em>breathing</em>.</p>
<p>He was <em>alive</em>. And he seemed fine, Danny stirred but didn’t open his eyes. Jack’s heart pounded in his ears, what was wrong with him? Had he been <em>sedated</em>?</p>
<p>Jack lifted his son into his arms and gently carried him from the room, shivering as the temperature continued to drop.</p>
<p>He made it back to Jazz’s room and instead of knocking this time he kicked the door open. It slammed into the wall that made Jazz sit up in bed rubbing her eyes and flicking on the light.</p>
<p>“Dad? What’s going on?”</p>
<p>“Take your brother and get outside Jazz.”</p>
<p>“What?!”</p>
<p>“Just take Danny and call the police, I think we’ve been broken into. I have to find you Mom.”</p>
<p>“Dad wait what? Ah!? He’s cold!” Jazz looked shocked and scared out of her mind as she held her younger brother. Danny sagged against her, still unconscious as Jazz looped one arm around her shoulders. “Dad… what’s happening?!”</p>
<p>“Just take your brother outside and call for help Jazz, go to Ms Florence across the road! Please! I need to find your mom and whoever the hell is in our house! And I need to know that you and Danny are safe!”</p>
<p>Jazz steeled herself and nodded understandably, and Jack felt some relief. He helped her and Danny to the stairs before grabbing a baseball bat out of the laundry, wielding it like a sword in front of him as he turned back to the darkened hall.</p>
<p>Jack heard the front door close and allowed himself a small hint of relief. Jazz had at least made it outside with Danny. The hall gaped at him mockingly, suddenly alien to him in his own house.</p>
<p>Jack narrowed his eyes, no, it didn’t matter what his mind was telling him, Maddie was safe, and she was somewhere in this house, she had to be.</p>
<p>The image of Danny’s blood smeared carpet flashed in his mind and Jack beat it away. He had to stay focused. She was <em>fine.</em> She was <em>okay</em>. He was going to beat the <em>hell</em> out of whoever had sedated his son.</p>
<p>He walked slowly, scanning door to door. Jazz’s room was first on his right, it was clear, no sign of Maddie or that anything was amiss.</p>
<p>Danny’s was next on the left. He opened the door and observed the blood trail leading back out the door at his feet. The room itself seemed undisturbed, satellites and model rockets hung lovingly from the ceiling, a mess of video games and outer space books on the floor. Jack crouched down and put his fingers to the trail, like he had seen on those TV shows Jazz watched. They came away wet and red, fresh and metallic.</p>
<p>He backed away, following the trail down the hall, past the bathroom, to the closed door at the end. He gulped, his and Maddie’s room.</p>
<p>The air shifted again, the temperature decreasing, and Jack gripped the bat tighter. He was damned if he was going to let some asshole hurt his family.</p>
<p>Nothing in Jack’s life or right mind could have prepared him for what was in his bedroom when he opened the door.</p>
<p>Maddie was on the bed, her silk dressing gown spilling over the bedsheets that, once white, were now stained a deep, dark red.</p>
<p>Jack dropped his bat with a clatter, rushing to his wife’s side. Her eyes were open, staring at the white of the ceiling. He stopped, oh… oh god.</p>
<p>There was a gouge, no. A whole chunk taken out of her right side, her stomach was shredded, like a wild animal had attacked her with its claws, red blood oozed thickly out of the sucking wound, staining the sheets and her pink pyjamas with a sickly concoction of flesh and blood.</p>
<p>He fell to his knees at the side of the bed, hastily grabbing bundles of bedsheet to press against the wound, to stop the bleeding. He reached up, clumsily cradling her head in his hand, turning her face towards him.</p>
<p>That face, as pure and beautiful as the day he first met her in high school. So innocent and kind, was now frozen in shock, her lips parted slightly, “J-Jack?”</p>
<p>Jack began to cry, “Oh Maddie… Maddie what happened?”</p>
<p>She looked confused, straining to think, she coughed, and Jack shuddered at the splatter of blood tricking from her mouth. “I… I don’t know… it…”</p>
<p>Her eyes widened, “Jack… run…”</p>
<p>“Maddie?” Jack screeched, “Maddie stay with me! <em>Maddie</em>!”</p>
<p>Her lips parted, but no sound came out, the tension in her midsection relaxing under the pressure of the makeshift bandage. “No no no no…. Maddie!?”</p>
<p>
  <em>“Such a crying shame isn’t it. One may even feel pity.” </em>
</p>
<p>Jack stopped, frozen in his tracks, the voice that had spoken was echoing, cold and sent chills up his spine. It wasn’t natural and it certainly didn’t <em>feel</em> human. Eyes wide Jack Fenton turned.</p>
<p>The thing floated in the centre of the room, muscular it appeared like a man, tall and broad shouldered. This being said, the pale, almost translucent skin, pointed fangs and ears suggested otherwise. Deep red eyes smirked down at the human crouched by his dead wife, he was broken, or breaking, and the creature grinned in amusement. What fun.</p>
<p>“What… what…” The father’s voice betrayed him. Quivering like a leaf in the wind.</p>
<p>“<em>Did you do? Are you? Are you doing here? Come on Jack, don’t let me stop you</em>.” The creature spread its arms wide, allowing the man on the floor to view it in all its glory, “<em>I am Phantom. I am the King of All Ghosts, I am inevitable and I just killed your wife. I thought</em> <em>that much was obvious. Oh, but I forgot, you’re an idiot</em>. <em>It’s been far too long Jack.”</em></p>
<p>You could practically see the cogs turning in the man’s brain, “G..host?” he tested the word on his tongue, working his way around the letters like they were cotton balls in his mouth, “what… <em>why</em>?”</p>
<p>Phantom smiled, “<em>My past, Jack. Some correcting needed to be done to set my past self and hence my future into motion. This included you, your family oh, and your wife. She needed to be dead</em>.”</p>
<p>Jack Fenton finally managed to snap himself out of the denial phase of grief and went straight to anger. Grabbing the baseball bat the large man threw himself at the ghost swinging the weapon as hard as his grief and pain would let him.</p>
<p>The bat passed clean through Phantom’s chest as if it wasn’t even there. </p>
<p>Jack only had a moment to curse in frustration before a bolt of green, crackling energy sent him careening into the far wall. He hit plaster, felt it give and crumpled to the ground wheezing, the air knocked out of him. The smell of burnt flesh wafted through his nostrils and Jack Fenton could only whimper in pain as Phantom walked over to him.</p>
<p>Those eyes, Jack knew that as long as he lived and breathed, he would never forget those deep red eyes, the same burning colour as Maddie’s blood that pooled at Jack’s feet and stained the front of his shirt.</p>
<p>“If you’re going to kill me…” Jack started shakily, drawing a raspy breath from the depths of his throat. Phantom only laughed, an echoey, grating sound.</p>
<p>“<em>Oh no, I’m not going to kill you Jack Fenton. No, I need you to suffer, to know how helpless and useless you are now so that next time we meet I may actually have to fight you. This is all part of a larger picture. Don’t you see?” </em></p>
<p>Phantom bent down to Jack’s eye level, lifting a cold, gloved finger under his jawline and pulling the man’s chin up to stare into the Ghost King’s face. In that moment and for years after, Jack couldn’t help but think that something was familiar in that twisted snarl, something so terribly close to home he couldn’t put his finger on it. “<em>Really wish we could chat for longer, but you see, my servant can only keep this time bubble open for a short while. But don’t you worry now Jack,</em> <em>you sit tight now, this isn’t the last you’ll see of me.” </em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. When I Grow Up, I Want To Be Nothing At All</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sun was shining on a beautiful spring day in Amity Park, birds chirping, clouds floating, the cliched picture perfect day in anyone’s weather description. Danny Fenton dolefully gazed out the classroom window at the lazy sun dripped pavement and sighed.</p><p>The tension in the room was almost palpable. There were at least ten minutes left in the last lesson before lunch and Danny could tell without having to turn that the jocks were very eager to get out of the room and find some poor sap to beat to an unrecognisable pulp with the bloodied end of a college football. The nerds had a ground-breaking DnD game to get back to after the weekly Thursday Casper High YuGiOh tournament. The cheerleaders needed to readjust and reapply their makeup and hair. The band kids had ensemble practice, the emos needed to brood.</p><p>But amongst all the cliques and clichés of high school social life, Danny Fenton was just looking forward to a simple PB&amp;J and an encyclopaedia on celestial navigation. Alone. In the library. Under a desk somewhere. And hopefully away from literally everyone.</p><p>That was the thing about people, especially people in high school. The social hierarchy and divisions were so blatantly obvious that without saying a word you’d be sorted like goddamn Harry Potter into a subcategory of some sort.</p><p>It didn’t matter what kind of unique you were, you were lost in school to the demon of social conduct. Especially here.</p><p>“<em>Jane Eyre</em> is a bildungsroman piece of literature written in the early 1800s by Charlotte Bronte. I’ll be expecting you all to read this thrilling novel by Week 5 of term, that gives you more than enough time to lap up that gorgeous ye olde English and return the paper to me by Friday of the same week.” Mr Lancer smiled, the middle aged and balding man had a beer gut and far too much enthusiasm to spare for the works of Bronte. Danny had already finished the novel a week ago and it wasn’t exactly the most ‘thrilling’ piece Lancer made it out to be.</p><p>But then again, Danny supposed, the man could read backwards Ernest Hemingway and think the next Shakespeare of the 21<sup>st</sup> century had concocted a feat of human accomplishment to rival the moon landing.</p><p>Danny looked up as Lancer placed the task sheet in front of his nose, purposefully right over the half-hearted drawing of the Saturn V rocket decorating his ‘notes page’. Danny wanted to glare at his teacher through his thick glasses but resulted in scowling at the neat Times Roman font and bold lettering detailing the header instead, he didn’t want to make a scene today.</p><p>“Now Mr Fenton, could you please explain what a bildungsroman is for the rest of us?”</p><p>The smile on Lancer’s face was encouraging but Danny knew that he was just an example rather than an accomplishment for the other kids. He sat up slightly, groaning as his arms buzzed with pins and needles in the absence of weight of his head. “A life story.” Danny mumbled, surprising himself at the sound of his unused voice, hoping that only the English teacher could hear. He coughed, awkwardly straightening his glasses on the end of his nose, “cause she starts as a little girl and the novel’s about how she evolves and changes over time into an adult, you know, how time affects maturity and all that…”</p><p>Mr Lancer smiled, nodding happily at his ‘prized’ student before finally turning away, “Quite correct. Jane herself is the narrator of this story, meaning….”</p><p>Danny stopped listening. </p><p>See, Danny Fenton was an oddity in the social hierarchy of school life. Neither considered a nerd, although he could recite any fact, figure or question like a Google search bar, nor a geek, as he held no interest for common pop culture references outside his video games. He wasn’t a jock, but at the same time he could sprint the 100m faster than most. Not a band kid, but he dabbled in guitar and piano when the mood suited. Certainly not an emo, but if anyone had access to his Spotify, the playlists and song choices may cause them to rethink that decision.</p><p>No Danny Fenton was a loser. Nothing more and nothing less. A simple, easily manipulative way of explaining his all-rounder abilities but also demeaning him for the low low cost of his self-esteem and social skills.</p><p>The bell rang and the shuffling and immediate evacuation of the classroom could have made anyone assumed a fire had spread under the teacher’s desk. Danny shook himself out of his thoughts and hastened to stuff his pencils back into his bag and shut the notebook before anyone could see his drawings and give him a further reason for mockery.</p><p>“Remember!” Mr Lancer yelled at the backs of the hurrying students as they filed out of the classroom, “Tomorrow is the excursion to Axiom Labs so remember to get those permission slips signed tonight!”</p><p>Danny slapped his forehead, shit, he forgot! Grumbling, he pulled the crumpled, unsigned permission form out of his backpack as he left the room and sighed, the Axiom Labs excursion was something he’d been looking forward to for months.</p><p>Trudging solemnly out of the room, Danny tried to keep his head down as he made it to his locker. There was no way he’ll get it signed now, dad was never around, and his Aunt Alicia would think it was a waste of time to want to go to anything of a scientific nature considering the amount of damage that field of research had inflicted on the Fenton family.</p><p>Axiom, however, was much more down to earth in the science realm if you counted space travel as down-to-earth science.</p><p>Space travel was something Danny dreamed about, heck, he lived for it. The dream of racing against the stars and discovering new planets, to be an astronaut Danny reckoned, would be the coolest thing imaginable. To cross boundaries humans had only dreamed of and solve the worlds coldest case imaginable. The universe. Facts, he supposed, were the only true thing in this world after all. They allowed him access to the minds of thousands, books, websites, journals. It didn’t matter where you found the facts, they were truer than any social circle in school and any word people had ever uttered behind his back. </p><p>Genius. That word was flung around a lot. Danny’s sister Jazz was a genius in the realm of psychology. Danny’s dad, Jack Fenton was a genius with his hands, just not his head. Danny himself. He wouldn’t call himself a genius, but the word was also thrown in his direction almost every day by his teachers. The Fenton family are crazy, that’s for sure, but you can be assured that they were the only crazies in the world that could get away with rewriting the laws of physics if, of course, Jack Fenton could get his head out of his work in the paranormal.</p><p>Danny made it to his locker without making eye contact with any of his classmates. Shoving his books into the back with a metallic clang he considered just skipping the rest of the day. With his perfect grade streak almost three years and counting, teachers seldom cared if he missed a lesson or not, plus it wasn’t as if his classmates would actually notice if he wasn’t there.</p><p>Danny laughed bitterly, if not just to himself, what even was the point of school? It served as a hell basket for kids like him to be beaten have his ego destroyed before he got out of Satan’s grip and kids like Dash Baxter to ride the golden wave of popularity before reality sent them tumbling into the sand. Danny hoped that was the case at least, if Dash was successful his whole life then Danny was dammed to be a boy genius living in a cardboard box out the back of a library somewhere.</p><p>Dash was the one guy in this whole place that Danny hated the most. He was a jerk and a pain in the ass on a good day and a downright demon on a bad. Dash and his goonies were sure to bully nearly an</p><p>Danny closed his locker and nearly jumped out of his skin for the second time that day as a grinning face smirked at him from behind the door. Adjusting his glasses on his nose Danny allowed himself a smile. “Hey Tuck.”</p><p>Tucker Foley’s smile cracked into uncontrollable fits of laughter, “God the look on your <em>face</em>! Anyone would have thought you’d seen a ghost!”</p><p>Danny’s smile faded into a sly smirk and he punched Tucker lightly on the arm, “Knock it off dude, how was maths?”</p><p>Tucker’s grin soured and he blew out between his teeth, “Come on man, you know I suck, there’s no need to rub it in further…”</p><p>Danny laughed, “I’m not! I’m just saying that if you needed any tutoring, I’m free every day until the end of senior year at this rate!”</p><p>Tucker grinned again and walked ahead of him towards the cafeteria, “Dad would kill me if you were teaching me maths, ‘You’re a Foley, Tucker.’” The other boy mimicked in his father’s deep voice, “’Foley’s know everything about numbers and you better be ready to take over this business one day, your mother and I are both counting on you…’” He trailed off annoying himself. Danny smiled at his friend.</p><p>Maurice Foley was the director of Axiom Labs and while Tucker wasn’t exactly a whizz at the number crunching, the kid could work his way around a circuit board faster than a sonic jet.</p><p>Tucker Foley wasn’t exactly popular either, but he at least wasn’t as far down the food chain as Danny was. The guy had money and at least a little influence from his dad, if that wasn’t slightly dashed by his overwhelming love for anything technological and his tendency to “woo the ladies” often landing him at the wrong end of a perfectly manicured palm.</p><p>Danny yawned and Tucker looked at him sideways, “Spend all night on Doomed again?”</p><p>Danny sighed, “How’d you guess?”</p><p>“Because you don’t play literally anything else. Seriously dude, that game is like… ten years old now, I’d get it if it was vintage, but you should at least give something else a go. I don’t know, maybe Resident Evil? Halo? Assassin’s Creed? Skyrim? Anything-Other-Than-Doomed?”</p><p>Danny laughed, “What and miss out on the opportunity to annoy you? It’s a good game Tuck, I just don’t see the point in playing anything else. Besides, I’m near the top of the world leader board, I’m nearly ranked 15<sup>th</sup>. That’s an achievement.”</p><p>“No, that’s a de-achievement man, the only other guys on that game are like 30-year-old dudes with no future living out of a pizza box in their mom’s basement. You best be careful or literally no girl is gonna want to be with you.”</p><p>“What because I only play one video game? Dude, don’t know if you noticed but girls aren’t that interested in your stupid FPS Call of Duty crap.”</p><p>“Hey! C.O.D. slaps, and you have no right to insult her you uncultured swine!”</p><p>Danny laughed again as they pushed their way into the cafeteria.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>Cradling his encyclopaedia to his chest Danny tried to bury his head in the pages rather than the altercation occurring on the other side of the cafeteria. Poor Mikey was getting an earful from Dash and as per usual it was Mikey who was getting beaten into the ground rather than Dash by the teachers.</p><p>Tucker scowled in Dash’s direction but dumped his tray with a clatter across from Danny and sat down without saying anything.</p><p>“He’s more mad than usual today.” Danny sighed without looking up, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Nathan also ends up with a black eye.”</p><p>“Yeah well, he failed the same algebra test I did, heard he got an F minus. An F minus! The guy must literally have answered nothing right except spelling his name on the front. Although to be honest that’s up for debate as well.”</p><p>Danny snorted and shovelled the last of his sandwich into his mouth. “So anyway, looking forward to the field trip tomorrow?”</p><p>Tucker’s eyes sparkled, “Yeah! Dad said he might actually show us the portal he’s been working on!”</p><p>Danny’s ears pricked up, “Portal? What kind of portal?”</p><p>“Oh, I don’t know, some kind of inter-dimensional travel thing. They can’t seem to get it working so Dad think’s it safe to show on the tour, mostly it’s a hunk of junk with cool ass circuitry and no actual use.”</p><p>“That’s still pretty cool though!” Danny squeaked excitedly, “I mean think about it! The possibilities of other dimensions have been theorised for years! The whole multi-verse theory, the black hole theory, heck if your dad found a way to bounce off the centre of a black hole, he could theoretically rip a hole in the wall of our universe and the next. It’s how wormholes work! Although there’s no actual telling when and where you’d end up with a wormhole cause their all you know…”</p><p>“I really don’t and you’re freaking me out.” Tucker sighed, “Dude, you are such a fountain of useless knowledge sometimes. Besides, it doesn’t work, Dad’s going to tear it down in a week or two at this rate, free up some space.”</p><p>Danny rolled his eyes, his excitement quashed, “Damn, I would have loved to see it.” Danny caught Tucker’s look of surprise and his his face under his bangs, “Sorry… I get it, I’m a freak.”</p><p>“God no, you’re a literal walking Google search bar, but not a freak. Just freakishly well read.”</p><p>“I just get excited is all.”</p><p>“Boy I wish I could be excited by most things they ramble on about in class. Maybe then I wouldn’t be thinking about jumping out the second-floor window every time Mr Green opens his mouth…” He trailed off and Danny was just about to ask Tuck what was up before Tucker suddenly grinned and punched Danny in the arm. “Nine o’clock sharp mate, better wipe that peanut butter from your mouth before she sees.”</p><p>Danny felt his eyes widen and he hastily ran the back of his hand across his mouth before swinging around. His breath caught in his throat as Samantha Manson walked into the cafeteria. Her long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail today, dark clothes clashing intensely with Paulina Sanchez’s pastel blues. An obvious challenge to the queen of Casper High that her throne was crumbling.</p><p>Samantha glanced in their direction and Danny hid his face in his encyclopaedia to avoid her stunning violet eyes.</p><p>Tucker, on the other hand waved and grinned, earning him a disapproving huff and a stalk in the other direction.</p><p>Danny sighed and practically slammed his head into the table, causing Tucker’s tray to rattle. He’d had an embarrassing massive crush on Samantha Manson since the 4<sup>th</sup> grade and he still had no way of talking to her without looking like and feeling like a complete idiot. She was so out of his league he had forgotten what hoping felt like. Strong, pretty, bold and not afraid to speak her mind she was respected by almost everyone at Casper High, even the A-List students considered her a threat.</p><p>Because if there’s one thing Samantha Manson was good at, it was being a threat. She never really seemed to care about the social hierarchy of the school the way the other A-List members did and that was only the start. Samantha was a great believer in helping those less fortunate, and heck, she’d really only earnt the A-List’s interest after they discovered she was the heiress to Amity Park’s biggest fortune. Filthy rich didn’t even begin to cover it. Players like Paulina could only wish for that kind of money.</p><p>Except, Samantha couldn’t care less. She dressed cheap, spoke plainly and was more than happy to throw that money away rather than touch it. That’s what had made Danny first fall for her, the way that used her influence to help kids like him, so far down the food chain he might as well not exist, rather than punch him into lockers.</p><p>Plus, she was smart and so damn pretty. Danny felt his cheeks burn and he mentally cursed himself for being such a weak-kneed coward. Sometimes he was almost jealous of Tucker’s upfront and downright zealous confidence. At the same time, that kind of confidence often landed him in trouble rather than a relationship.</p><p>Danny allowed himself to momentarily stare at her bouncing raven black hair as she walked away to sit with the other A-Lists. He’d give anything to talk to her and not make a fool of himself.</p><p>Tucker nudged him in the arm and Danny sighed, turning back to his friend and resting his chin on his arms. Tucker looked at him in mock concern before pretending to check his temperature, “Mr Fenton, your more lovesick today than usual. Have you been taking the meds I prescribed?”</p><p>Danny laughed half-heartedly at Tucker’s act, “If by meds you mean that cologne you gave me on my birthday? Then no, Doctor Foley, I didn’t think Old Cat Lady was the right diagnosis.”</p><p>Tucker threw his hands up, “Hey, admit it, you may be a genius in the classroom but when it comes to the ladies, I’m the master.”</p><p>Danny cocked an eyebrow, “Oh yeah, and how’s that going for you? Last time I checked Valerie was thoroughly uninterested.”</p><p>“Oh, don’t worry, she’ll come around. You’ll see, I have a sure-fire plan already set into motion.” Tucker winked, and Danny groaned but couldn’t stop the smile from playing on his lips.</p><p>He turned his attention back to Samantha; she was scrolling through her phone while the other A-Lists chatted amongst themselves. Danny frowned, she always seemed so lonely around her ‘friends’ like she was included in the group but not the conversation.</p><p>Tucker patted his shoulder comfortingly and Danny shut the encyclopedia with a snap as the bell started to toll. It was no use, the freak of nature with his head in the stars would be forever lost to the girl who had it all.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>(Yes the chapter titles are lyrics.) </p><p>(Yes there are Extra Special Bonus PointsTM if you know them. Bite me)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Alone Was Never Easy After You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey guys, </p>
<p>Told you I'll try to post weekly! Anyway, hope you've been enjoying the story so far, as soon as we get through these intentional chapters I promise to pick it up for some fun stuff I swear. </p>
<p>Happy reading x</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The walk home from school was always about as boring as class itself Danny reckoned. At least it was a change of scenery.</p>
<p>The streets of Amity Park were sun-baked and cracking, people walking to and fro and passing each other with friendly waves. Same old stories, same old pedestrian life.</p>
<p>Sometimes Danny wondered if this really was all there would be to his teenage years. This constant work for school and never any real action. No social life, no hanging out with friends most days, just school, homework and being the classroom shut in. A lazy humdrum drone of life snuffing dreams of a golden youth under harsh reality.</p>
<p>The lights changed from red to green and Danny crossed the street, rounding the corner and starting towards the cul-du-sac at the end of the road.  He pushed his glasses up his nose, noting the fingerprints and dust collecting on the lenses. He’ll have to clean them later.</p>
<p>Keeping his head down and only nodding to the people that passed, Danny walked up the front steps of the blocky, red brick building on the corner. He really didn’t have the energy for any surprise conversations.</p>
<p>Today after all was especially hard for his family. It had been five years to the day since his mother’s murder.</p>
<p>Danny had managed to keep a straight face through class and school but if he was being honest, school was the easy part. It was home that terrified him beyond belief.</p>
<p>He made it to his front door and didn’t even need to check it was open before he twisted the handle and walked in. Jazz was on the couch and looked up as he dumped his schoolbag by the coat rack in the hall.</p>
<p>“Hey,” she smiled, “how was school?”</p>
<p>“The usual…” he mumbled, making a beeline for the rice crackers in the cupboard. Pouring himself a glass of orange juice he sat at the kitchen table, staring blankly down at the rim of the glass before he took a sip. Jazz sighed, snapping shut the psychology studies book before joining him at the table.</p>
<p>She pinched a cracker and Danny looked at her incredulously as she smirked but didn’t say a word. They didn’t need to. The crashes emerging from the basement were filling the silence just fine.</p>
<p>Since their mom’s death, Jack Fenton had become increasingly more recluse. He spent nearly all his time down in the ‘lab’ in the basement working on a high-tech revenge plan that was ultimately, Danny thought, insane.</p>
<p>The night mom died; Jack Fenton had claimed that a ghost murdered his wife. A <em>ghost</em>. The authorities would accept after multiple trials that it was a deranged psycho, but a supernatural being was beyond hard to believe.</p>
<p>What’s worse was that Vlad Masters, a billionaire and close friend of their parents from college, had, like many before him, thought he was mad. Instead of trying to help however, Vlad Masters had fled into secrecy. Doing God knows what with his buckets of cash and hidden fortress of a mansion in Wisconsin. Maddie’s death had severed any friendship between them, leaving Jack without a job and the Fenton’s without a stable income.</p>
<p>Vlad Masters wasn’t exactly the Christmas card type, yet Jazz still counted him among the annual gifts as after all he was their Godfather. He barely replies, but sent Danny and Jazz small tokens of pocket money on their birthdays.</p>
<p>He hated their dad too much to visit however, and Danny could only hope he was doing something <em>productive</em> with his time. As far away from his father’s coping mechanisms as possible.</p>
<p>Jack Fenton classified himself as a Ghost Hunter and it was embarrassing and honestly sad to see a man like Danny’s father fall so far so quickly. He had been a leading engineer at Vlad’s business upstate. He’d managed promotion after promotion with his world class ideas in engineering and sustainable energy consumption. His current ‘occupation’ however, consisted mostly of him staying in a basement littered with scrap metal and pizza boxes working on invention after invention that was ‘sure as hell’ going to kill a ghost (which was already dead Danny liked to point out). When he eventually found one.</p>
<p>The household now ran on Jazz’s full-time income through substitute teaching at Casper Elementary while she was also trying to save for college and the Yale scholarship she had earned. Danny tried his best to help out when he could but the fact was he couldn’t hold down a part time job anywhere on account of his lack of social skills and anxiety reducing his customer service abilities to nil. He’d been fired three times. Once from retail and twice from the Nasty Burger fast-food joint when he’d accidently broken the grill and the fryer in the same afternoon. Aunt Alicia helped Jazz through selling prized produce from her farm in the markets but it was rough going.</p>
<p>Jack had become so obsessed with proving ghosts were real and dealing justice for Maddie Fenton’s murder that the rest of the world had become insignificant.</p>
<p>That included Danny and Jazz.</p>
<p>Practically neglected for the last five years, their mother’s sister, Aunt Alicia, acted as Danny and Jazz’s guardian most of the time. That is, when she wasn’t rambling about Jack’s lack of care for his kids or talking about how Maddie would be ashamed of Jack’s obsession with the supernatural.</p>
<p>She was a strong woman a real take-no-shit-from-nobody and a pure example of the whole “you can take a person out of a town but not the town out of a person”. She missed her farm in Rhubarb, that much was obvious, and she absolutely despised the city. But Aunt Alicia stayed for Danny and Jazz’s sake and for that much Danny admired her to no end.</p>
<p>She was wearing her customary dusty overalls and a blue checkered flannel today as she walked into the kitchen. Toned arms from years of country work heaving two bags of groceries onto the kitchen counter. Aunt Alicia was never afraid to speak her mind and speak it often, which made her deafening silence the first warning sign of the evening. There would be blood tonight if Jack Fenton wasn’t careful.</p>
<p>Another crash echoed through the house and Danny got to his feet, helping Aunt Alicia unpack the groceries with a pursed lip. He wasn’t in the mood for the annual whodunnit wack-job argument that was to come. Mom’s death should be a reason to celebrate her memory, not search for some answer as to why she wasn't here.</p>
<p>The police had searched the crime scene and the house for weeks while Danny had been in the hospital. He himself didn’t remember much of the night seeing as he was unconscious for the whole ordeal. To this day his doctors didn’t know what had happened, aside from the fact that he had all the signs of near-death frostbite. So cold his heart had almost stopped beating.</p>
<p>Mom had induced severe head trauma in Danny’s room from behind, whoever had broken in had climbed in from Danny’s window and knocked her out as she had made it to his bed before dragging her down the hall to finish the job. He shut his eyes against the tears, his mom had died because of him and Danny knew it. It didn’t matter how much Aunt Alicia, the cops or Jazz comforted him that it wasn’t his fault. The fact was that if he hadn’t been unconscious, heck, if he hadn’t decided to go to bed early, he could have yelled, screamed, done anything, done <em>something</em> to make sure the bastard had been caught before he had a chance to gut his mother on her own bed. </p>
<p>The door to the basement opened and his dad stepped out, grease stained jumpsuit splattered with a thick greenish liquid. Danny looked away as dad made it to the fridge, eyes narrowed as he pulled out a Coke and tipped the contents down his throat.</p>
<p>He was on edge today and Danny knew it, every year the anniversary marked a year more that Jack Fenton couldn’t find his wife’s killer. Today the hopped up caffeine was making his hands shake violently. He shut the fridge and glanced at Danny, an unsure smile playing on his lips.</p>
<p>“Anything fun happen at school today kiddo?”</p>
<p>Danny shook his head, “No, nothing as usual…”</p>
<p>Jack nodded slowly, looking down at his shoes then back to his son, as if he didn’t quite know what to do with himself. “Well… I…”</p>
<p>“Go Dad, its alright…” Danny sighed, rubbing his temples and turning away, “just… go.”</p>
<p>Jack smiled and ruffled Danny’s hair before pounding back down into the basement where the crashes and bangs started up again. Oblivious as always. Danny couldn’t find it in him to hate his dad, he was grieving and finding the only solutions he could in a world without viable evidence. But it ached that he no longer seemed to care that he wasn’t the only one hurting.</p>
<p>Aunt Alicia scowled, “You shouldn’t let him run off Danny.”</p>
<p>“What else was I supposed to do? Let him stand there?”</p>
<p>Her eyes narrowed, “Let me take a piece out of ‘im Danny, he deserves it for what ‘e puts you and Jazz through.”</p>
<p>“Just don’t. Please?” Danny sighed, smiling at his aunt with what he hoped was reassurance. “Can’t we let it rest for once, mom wouldn’t have wanted us all to fight over her.”</p>
<p>His aunt sighed but nodded, backing down. “Fine then young man, but you ‘ave homework and I don’t want none of your excuses tonight.”</p>
<p>Danny laughed and nodded, his aunt cracked a toothy grin before squeezing his shoulder and retreating to the kitchen.</p>
<p>Jazz smiled at him and the two of them shared a comforting look. Neither of them was okay, none of this was okay but Jazz understood what he was going through more than anyone.</p>
<p>She got up from the table, flicking a strand of auburn hair over her left shoulder as the two of them headed upstairs. It was the quiet bond of siblings to understand what each other were dealing with while simultaneously not caring in the slightest. Jazz often teased Danny for his freakshow knowledge of science while he often poked her side with the old Freudian works and other dusty psychology cookbooks she poured over. Neither of them however, shared their dad’s passion for ghost-hunting.</p>
<p>Danny walked into his room first, kicking a pile of socks out of the walkway before sitting at his desk. His room was a mess, as always. Model parts, comic books and his PS4 lounged across his carpet as an afterthought. Dirty laundry was piled in a corner as well as across his bed, but his desk was always spotless save for his laptop charger and pencil case. It didn’t matter what state his room was in, Danny always thought, as long as he could think while doing his work, he was fine.</p>
<p>What tended to happen was that his brain and stress level often equalled the level of mess on the floor. Very often Danny found himself drowning in work and as such didn’t feel any need to clear his brain space. On a good weekend he might decide to pick up the dirty clothes or clean up the books that spilled across his floor, but more often than not stress and schoolwork interfered with any hope he had at having a life.</p>
<p>Jazz knocked twice before entering without invitation. Brushing a space for herself on the end of his bed she sighed, pushing her glasses up to the top of her head, fanning her hair about her face.</p>
<p>Danny didn’t say anything, Jazz was always the one to start her makeshift psychiatric sessions after all. “How are you holding up?” She started and Danny sighed, there it was the door was open.</p>
<p>“Not great if I’m being honest.”</p>
<p>She nodded, “I can imagine. If it helps, I’m not coping either.”</p>
<p>Danny smiled at her; Jazz wasn’t your typical annoying sibling. She cared, and he cared back. They’d become a lot closer since their mother’s death and father’s subsequent scientific breakdown. His smile wavered, “Mom wouldn’t have wanted this you know…” he started, “Dad’s whole ghost obsession and Aunt Alicia’s arguing I mean.”</p>
<p>“I know, but they’re both thick Danny. They lash out at each other because they don’t know what else to do.”</p>
<p>“Your psychoanalysing the whole family now?”</p>
<p>“You’d be surprised what you can diagnose.”</p>
<p>“Well then Dr. Fenton, what’s my diagnosis?”</p>
<p>She didn’t laugh, “Danny, what’s going on at school. I mean really going on.”</p>
<p>He looked at her, “You mean aside from the constant bullying and no one giving two shits for anyone else? Besides the fact that people seem to forget the issues people deal with and instead of trying to understand they make fun of them? People are cruel Jazz, there’s nothing you or I can do about it except to grit our teeth and wait it out till college.”</p>
<p>She studied him, blue eyes searching his face before she sighed, “You know that’s not true, we all can do something about it, it’s just a matter of finding the courage to do so.”</p>
<p>He barked a laugh, “Yeah about that, dunno if you’d noticed but I’m not exactly the most confident person. I’m the freak, the weirdo, the loser. I get the wrong end of the stick from everyone except Tuck. Dash treats me like a punching bag, Paulina like a bad smell. The kids in my class all stare and whisper behind my back and I…” he stopped himself, “I just want to be invisible Jazz, I wish I could just disappear or sink through the floor. I want out.”</p>
<p>“I know.” She whispered, “I know exactly how you feel.”</p>
<p>He looked at her and removed his glasses, placing them on the edge of the desk and sighing at the now fuzzy room and sister. That was one of the upsides to being blind, Danny thought. Every time the world became too much to handle, he could shut it off. Turn the video quality down to one and he wouldn’t have to see all the smirks and faces people pulled.</p>
<p>“It’s not long now though,” Jazz tried reassuringly, “you’re in the 11<sup>th</sup> grade, next year is the last you’ll have to deal with any of these people.”</p>
<p>Danny gave her a half smile and rested his chin on his forearms, staring blankly at the lamp on the desktop. It flickered and Danny closed his eyes. “Jazz… do you… do you think there really is such things as ghosts?”</p>
<p>She blinked, “What?”</p>
<p>Danny turned to her, “I mean, do you think dad really saw one, that night...”</p>
<p>Jazz sighed, standing up and brushing herself free of imaginary dust. “I think…” she started, speaking slowly, as if she’d been thinking the same thing and wasn’t quite sure how to phrase her answer, “I think dad was hallucinating. I think he was suffering from sever trauma after… after finding mom like that… you can’t blame him for trying to find answers. We all want them, and frankly we deserve them too. But no, I don’t think they’re real and I don’t think we have to worry about them anytime soon.”</p>
<p>Danny didn’t know what he was expecting. Some kind of reassurance maybe? Some hope that his dad wasn’t crazy? He’d been trying to convince himself for five years now that dad’s weird occupation held a merit of justice. That his mom’s killer would be found and that Danny wouldn’t have to live with bars on his windows and a bat by his bed.</p>
<p>Paranoia had wreaked the Fenton family, but it was Jack Fenton’s ghost in the night that nailed the coffin shut.</p>
<p>Jazz turned to leave, and Danny grabbed her arm. “Hey, uh, one last thing…” he started, she blinked at him and crouched down.</p>
<p>“What is it?”</p>
<p>He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and rummaged around in his desk drawer, “Do you think you could sign this?”</p>
<p>She looked at the permission slip to Axion Labs in his hands and ruffled his hair, “I’m not really our guardian Danny, but I can go ask Aunt Alicia…”</p>
<p>“No…” Danny said, placing the slip on the desk, “No, I mean, I want you to sign it Jazz. You’re nineteen, that’s old enough… to… to act as one.”</p>
<p>Her eyes widened and Danny felt his cheeks flush, “Oh Danny… I can’t be mom…”</p>
<p>“And I’m not asking you to be!” Danny said quickly, “all I… I just want us to be a family again Jazz, you, me, dad. I want dad to stop looking for shadows and realise that we’re still here! I…” he shut his eyes, when he opened them he looked away, “Jesus… we’re such a fucked-up family aren’t we.”</p>
<p>Jazz laughed softly and wrapped an arm around his neck, Danny blinked but reached up to return the embrace pulling his older sister down and holding tight. “We will be a family Danny, I promise. We’ll get through this and dad will eventually snap out of it. Mom’s case isn’t quite cold yet to the police, we’ll find the bastard, we will. And hey,” she released him and squeezed his shoulders, “I know you feel all alone, I get it, I do too sometimes. We come from a fucked-up family its true, but that doesn’t define you as a person. Carve your own path Danny and I mean it. Your path is here,” she pointed to his chest, to the NASA logo of his faded t-shirt, “and up there, amongst the stars. Don’t let the people around you ground you to the earth.”</p>
<p>Danny smiled at her, “I don’t know, sometimes I think I need a little grounding…”</p>
<p>She laughed and pulled a pen out of her back pocket, forging their dad’s signature on the permission slip and handing it back to him. “Danny, I love you. Never forget that please? You’ll find your superhero amongst all this, in your times of struggle there’s always someone in your corner; I only hope you can gain some confidence from that person as well.”</p>
<p>Danny looked at his sister as she stood and walked towards the door, long hair bouncing off her shoulders as she left. <em>A hero huh?</em> Somehow, he didn’t think he needed to look very far.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. See I'm Like You Without Good Moods</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I. Will. Make. This. Weekly. I. Promise. </p>
<p>So, disclaimer before we start. I am not a scientist or an expert or really someone qualified to throw these kinds of topics down as facts. Please understand that and don't hate if I mess up cause I haven't done a lot of proper research (because it's boring) and most of this is trying to remember High School Science. Which is of Course not Unreliable In The Slightest. And 100% You Can Trust My Shitty Memory I Swear.  </p>
<p>Anyway, it's a longer chapter this week, still mild filler I know. But stuff will happen eventually. That's the beauty of a relatively slow burn my dudes. </p>
<p>Happy reading everyone, and see you again same time next week!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Axion Labs was huge.</p>
<p>Not just massive, not just mildly large. No, it was a huge, big white block of a building complex that stood on the edge of town and looked out over the sea. Danny had seen it before in magazines and when he’d been over at Tucker’s house, but he’d never had the pleasure of setting foot inside the six-foot-high electric fences.</p>
<p>The bus lazily dragged itself up the drive and Danny couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face. This was insane.</p>
<p>Tucker simply rolled his eyes at Danny’s mouth-watering. “Dude, it’s just a building.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Danny grinned, “but a building full of the latest and greatest scientific projects in the world!”</p>
<p>It was true, Axion was known for any number of potentially world-saving equipment and scientific development. Bioengineering labs, robotics factories and space travel were just surface scratches of what fields Axion researched and worked in. They had been closely associated with the likes of SpaceX and NASA for years and Danny almost felt like he was getting an exclusive behind the scenes of Cape Canaveral itself.</p>
<p>The bus parked and Mr Lancer got to his feet, “Now, we’re very lucky to be a part of this experience so I want all of you to be on your best behaviour alright? We’re here representing Casper High and I’d hate for this to be the last time our students have the privilege of such an opportunity.”</p>
<p>A few students nodded dutifully, although most rolled their eyes. Like Casper High was anything to be proud of.</p>
<p>“First off we have a guided tour of the laboratories and a few sneak peaks at Axion’s latest projects, however, I must insist that you be reminded not to touch anything without permission from our guides. Many of these experiments are highly dangerous and without the proper knowledge of their function you may be injured irreparably.”</p>
<p>Lancer eyed a few students, namely Dash, before continuing, “This being said, we are here to learn and experience, feel free to ask <em>intelligent</em> questions and drink in as much science you possibly can! Lunch will be back out here by the entrance after the tour. The staff kiosk is also open for your use. Now if we could form an orderly line outside the bus I will go in and register.”</p>
<p>There was a mad rush to get out of the sweaty interior of the school bus and Danny waited as patiently as he could for most of the other students to pass before tailing on the end.</p>
<p>Stepping out into the warm sun, Danny squinted up at the stainless steel of the laboratories. Tucker walked out after him, hands in pockets as Danny began to twitch in excitement. He turned to his friend with a grin, “This is so cool.”</p>
<p>Tucker gave him a half smile, but Danny could already tell he was bored stiff. Maurice wanted Tucker to take over Axion someday, so the other boy already had more than enough knowledge of the complex. In fact, it was Maurice himself who had offered the opportunity to Casper High in the hopes that the behind-the-scenes tour would inspire something within Tucker.</p>
<p>Danny wasn’t so sure it was a love of science that Tucker needed. He’d built his first robot at the age of four. He been pretty proud of it. It didn’t serve much purpose other than to detect walls and objects and move around them, but for a four-year-old to run a working Python script, Danny doubted Tucker wasn’t a genius himself.</p>
<p>By the age of nine, he had built his own computer and with Danny’s help, they’d designed and run a video game on Tucker’s homemade console. Danny shrugged, what could he say, Tucker was a nerd for technology.</p>
<p>The thing he was best at however, Danny thought, was hacking.</p>
<p>Back in the 9<sup>th</sup> grade, Tucker had landed himself in some serious trouble when he’d been caught hacking into the school’s security system and illegally downloading footage of some of their classmates, namely Dash, as a way of getting back at the jock. It had been pretty incriminating footage as well, Danny remembered, not just of him bullying other students, but also locker room footage or bribing members of staff with wads of cash. Tucker was lucky he got off with a formal caution and not a charge for child pornography and cybercrime or something.</p>
<p>It was just a shame that he sucked at basic mathematics and schoolwork.  Danny shook his head, no, what Maurice need to instil in Tucker wasn’t a love for science but rather economics and number crunching instead of the ladies.</p>
<p>The door to the lab opened and a pretty woman stepped out, her blonde hair tied neatly back into a tight bun over a dress suit and lab coat. “Welcome students,” she began with a warm smile, “I hope you’re ready to have your minds blown!”</p>
<p>Tucker groaned along with a few other students, “I bet dad paid her to say that…” he mumbled under his breath, just loud enough for Danny to hear and crack a smile.</p>
<p>They moved in single file up the steps and into reception where Lancer already stood with the chemistry teacher, Mr. Herman.</p>
<p>They started in the robotics lab. It was a large space with a high ceiling and workbenches dotted around the ground floor. Stainless steel panels wrapped around the walls to where a variety of projects littered the benchtops and walkways to offices were strung above their heads. Tools and materials were neatly stacked in an open storeroom on the other side of the room where the stainless steel gave way to sterile whitewash walls.</p>
<p>Danny couldn’t fight the grin that formed on his face when he saw the way Tucker’s eyes lit up with pride. Mrs Foley had noticed Tucker’s love for robotics better than her husband ever did and occasionally would bring Tucker in to tinker. Nothing too extravagant or close to being dangerous but as far as Danny knew from Tucker’s excited rambles, a few major projects in robotics had been sparked from Tucker’s random poking in the labs.</p>
<p>The tour guide even nodded in their direction before she began explaining the revolutionary projects in AI development and new interfaces that ran on cleaner energy. Danny couldn’t really hear much of what she was saying, and he didn’t really care because Tucker was far more excited than he was by this point.</p>
<p>Hooking Danny under the arm, Tucker dragged him over to a workbench in the corner. It was covered in robotic parts and circuits, sensors, electronics, wires, soldering irons and a large PC displaying a login box. Tucker attacked the keyboard, opening the desktop and bringing up his latest programming for the mass of circuitry on the benchtop.</p>
<p>Tucker tried to explain to Danny the ins and outs of his modified PDA system he was working on, a homemade computer slash phone that could work far faster than anything Danny had seen commercially. Tucker began to ramble, and Danny could only smile and nod as his friend got more and more worked up about the programming and codes he’d written. Most of the words coming out of the other boy’s mouth, however, were lost to Danny’s ears. He didn’t even think some of them were real.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, it was only fair he let Tucker have his fun, it was how their friendship worked after all. It was a listen-and-be-interested-until-the-person-has-exhausted-themselves system. Most of the time neither had a clue about what the other was talking about, but it helped them both to ramble to an actual person instead of an empty room. That was the problem with having too much information crammed in your skull, with no one to talk to about it, the information was either forgotten or became boring. You couldn’t hold on to the facts forever and it was nice to refresh them every once in a while.</p>
<p>Danny nodded as Tucker flew across the computer and tried asking questions or clarification when he thought he was beginning to understand what his friend was talking about. As usual however, Tucker merely grinned and went on a completely different tangent in his attempt to explain, resulting in Danny being even more confused than he was before.</p>
<p>Of all the facts and figures in his head, robotics was lost on him. It was as Aunt Alicia would joke, Danny and Tucker were just two halves of the same coin. One the all-rounder with a little bit missing in the realm of social status and robots, the other the bored dropout with the money and the obsession with the artificial. They slotted together perfectly and bounced each other around for fun when they could.</p>
<p>Being the CEO’s son, Tucker could afford to bring Danny away from the group. But it wasn’t long until Mr Lancer was calling the boys back over as the guide wrapped up her speech about the robotic arm in the corner and its use in factories.</p>
<p>Tucker and Danny remained in low conversation as they exited the large robotics facilities and entered a white sterile hallway behind their classmates. The guide swiped a card and led them through to another wider corridor with two large windows set into the wall that looked out across another set of labs.</p>
<p>Their guide explained that these were the bioengineering laboratories before talking the many health benefits and cheaper alternatives to treatment that Axion was applying to the medical field. This included artificial limbs and prosthetics as well as the development of medical equipment such as ultrasounds and MRI scanners.</p>
<p>Danny couldn’t help the twinge of grief that gripped his heart momentarily at the mention of epigenetics. Bioengineering after all had been his mother’s occupation and greatest passion outside of her family. Maddie Fenton had almost been awarded a Nobel Prize for her ground-breaking accomplishments in the field, she just never made it to the award ceremony…</p>
<p>Because of this, chemicals and potential radioactivity meant that the group needed to wear protection gear if they were to continue. Danny felt a smirk tug at his lips as the tour guide handed around a collection of black and white hazmat suits to some of the students.</p>
<p>The look on Paulina’s face at this fashion nightmare was enough to last a lifetime.</p>
<p>“Oh my God, you <em>cannot</em> be serious…” She held it up to the light between her claw-length manicured nails as if it was a dead rat.</p>
<p>“Serious as I can be honey,” the tour guide winked at her, “if you want to see the bioengineering labs, you’ll need to wear this. We’ll be walking through an area where we test for radioactive substances, you can’t be too careful.”</p>
<p>Danny couldn’t care less about her dilemma. He slid his arms through, zipped up and was only half shocked at how well the hazmat fitted close to his body. The boots and gloves were next, rubber and almost slimy to the touch. There was a hood with a Velcro strip that attached to a separate flap of latex at the back, but the guide explained that they weren't really necessary unless they decided to go diving in the nuclear reactor. </p>
<p>Despite the offer of seeing the labs there were a large portion kids who decided their dignity and fashion sense was more important than their education and offered to hold the bags. Amongst the group of “Future Radiation Scientists” as the tour guide cheerfully called them, were Danny, Tucker, Dash and Samantha as well as a handful of nerds like Mikey who were even more scared of being in a radiation lab with Dash than potentially growing a third arm.</p>
<p>The lab was spacious and sterile white with steel tables and phials of glowing liquids. Some kids shied away, cautious of the strange substances but Danny’s curiosity got the better of him as he leaned down to take a closer look. There was something about a glowing green viscous goo that seemed almost familiar to him. He looked up when the tour guide started talking again.</p>
<p>Some students were asking questions. Danny was almost impressed with some of them actually being intelligent. The tour guide led them through the lab to a window that looked out across the nuclear reactor and explained how dangerous it could be. “This is one of the reasons why I asked you all to wear hazmat down here. You never know if or when we may have a leak.”</p>
<p>That seemed to comfortably scare at least half of the students in the room enough that the tour guide decided that it was best they leave the radioactivity to the professionals.</p>
<p>To get out of the lab, the guide led them down a corridor and pass a steel door with a window into another laboratory. Behind the glass were rows and rows of cages rattling with animals. The tour guide explained that the animals had been theoretically built in the labs and were used as observational test subjects.</p>
<p>“Nothing harmful of course though!” she said, “I don’t think I’d still work here if we were promoting such issues.” She explained how the animals were used as genetic tools and they only took samples of animal DNA to apply in petri dishes the effects when they intermingle or react. “Occasionally they’ll test out different drugs and medicine to any of the animals that may be suffering. This helps us get a sense of the effects and potential side effects that the drug may have…”</p>
<p>A few students began asking whether the bioluminescence of jellyfish could be applied to other animals like in BBC Sherlock. But the tour guide simply laughed, “Anything is possible with science, it’s just about developing the technology and smoothing out the kinks in the system.”</p>
<p> “It’s a little cruel, though right?” A voice broke through the tour guide’s explanation and she blinked, taken aback.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry?”</p>
<p>Danny looked up as Samantha parted the crowd like the goddamn Red Sea. “I mean keeping the animals in cages, experimenting on them. It’s cruel.”</p>
<p>The tour guide looked flustered, “Well… you see…”</p>
<p>“I don’t.” Samantha said flatly, “Animals should be allowed to roam free, to live in the wilderness, not cooped up in here for your sick experiments.”</p>
<p>The tour guide found her voice, “I understand your concerns Miss…?”</p>
<p>“Manson.” Samantha spat.</p>
<p>The tour guide visibly paled a little but kept her composure, “Miss Manson, Axion Labs have never attempted to harm any animal in our care, besides, the experimentation of animals is benefitting thousands perhaps millions in fields of healthcare…”</p>
<p>“Uh huh, and how do you think the monkeys feel?”</p>
<p>She blinked, “The… monkeys?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, the monkeys, rabbits and all other animals! Kept in cages their whole lives, would you like to have needles poking you every day?”</p>
<p>“Um, can we all just calm down a bit?” Danny even surprised himself when he spoke. The whole group turned to him in disbelief and Danny felt the urge to bolt. He forced himself to keep going, stammering a bit as he did so, “so… I know a little bit about epigenetics from… from my mom’s work… before… that’s not important, the fact is that the animals here… they uh…” <em>Oh great</em>, he thought, <em>this is going fantastic</em>.</p>
<p>He bit his lip, “The animals here don’t really know anything different, they’ve been bred in captivity and all, so well, as you said, this field of science is really helping people out there and I for one am pretty grateful…” he caught the glare from Samantha and sighed, <em>oh well done Fenton, you’re the screw up once again</em>, “Look I’m sorry… I just don’t see there being the harm done here that there is with say, cosmetic testing. Animal testing is wrong, I can agree, but in some cases I can understand why it can be necessary… is all… alright I’ll shut up now…”</p>
<p>The class looked at him and Danny hid his eyes under his bangs, at least it was quiet now.</p>
<p>“Well…” the tour guide tried for a warm tone, “thank you…I think it’s time we moved on to the robotics labs… follow me.”</p>
<p>They continued on but not before Samantha glared at him with all the fury of hell and slammed her shoulder into his arm as she passed. Danny rubbed his arm but kept his head down, pushing his glasses back up his nose, he’ll have to get them tightened at this rate.</p>
<p>Dash grinned as he passed, “Nice going Fen<em>turd</em>.”</p>
<p>“Watch it Dash.” Danny snapped, anger flaring in his cheeks.</p>
<p>Dash laughed, “Or what, Fentonio? You gonna bore me to death with your lame facts?”</p>
<p>Danny grit his teeth, he was so tired of being treated like a cockroach, so tired of being the punching bag for everyone else’s entertainment. He saw red, “Depends on the information Dash,” he went to walk past the jock, “I can always let it slip how Daddy’s paying for your slot in the team. Can’t have the whole school knowing how much of a pompous asshole you are, damage your Harvard entry. Although with those grades I doubt you’ll make it past a janitor.”</p>
<p>Danny regretted the comment immediately, Dash whipped to him, gripping him by the collar the jock swung him into the wall. The sterile white hallway made contact with the back of his head and Danny saw stars. He coughed and squinted up into Dash’s eyes, his glasses askew and dark hair falling in his eyes, “You’ve got a lot of nerve Fenton. You breathe a word of my old man’s agreement to anyone and I’ll make sure it’s your final one on earth.”</p>
<p>Danny laughed dryly, “You’ve said that a few times now <em>Baxter</em>, somehow I’m still breathing. Oh yeah, that’s because no one gives two shits what I think.”</p>
<p>Dash flinched but grinned and let Danny go. He fell to his knees awkwardly. Dash leaned down to Danny’s eye level, his voice was low and dangerous, “Know you’re place Fenton, meet me tomorrow behind the gym at 3, looks like I have some discipline to instil in the school's know-it-all. If you don’t show, or are late,” he pounded his fists together, “a broken nose will feel like a blessing.”</p>
<p>Dash yanked Danny’s glasses off his face and pocketed them then walked down the corridor after the last of the students, no one had even noticed their exchange. “Keep your loser brain inside your skull and out of people’s business Fenton, I’d hate to see it smeared across the gym floor.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Bullet Through My Heart, Dancing in the Dark</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey hey everyone!</p>
<p>Another week another chapter. I only hope that what happens next starts to be a little more interesting than what you've read already, I promise Things™ will happen soon. </p>
<p>Anyway, </p>
<p>Happy reading and I'll see you all next week!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Danny groaned as he got to his feet, rubbing the back of his neck and squinting in the vague direction Dash had walked off. He rubbed his eyes,<em> damnit</em>, he really couldn’t see a thing without his glasses.</p>
<p>Jazz had been telling him to buy contacts for years now, but the thought of removing and putting things on his eyeballs every morning terrified him more than the thought that he <em>might</em> trip over one day, or get hit with a high flying object, and shards of the glass attached to his face were going to permanently blind him forever.</p>
<p>It was a risk he was willing to take. But it also left him susceptible to Dash and other jerks to ensure Danny missed out on the actual NASA and ‘Cool Space Stuff’ part of the tour. He was also still wearing the damn hazmat suit and it was starting to heat up. He sighed, fumbling with the wall he ran his fingers across cool plaster, walking in the direction he thought the group had headed.</p>
<p>He hit a door with his hand and jumped slightly, pushing gently as it swung open. He was in another hallway. Danny sighed; this was going nowhere.</p>
<p>Danny tripped over his own feet as the boots caught on the linoleum floor and he hit the ground with an awkward thump. He groaned and pushed himself up onto his elbow before getting to his feet again and began walking forward.</p>
<p>How come there was literally no people in this part of the labs? You’d think that a building as busy and as high tech as Axion would have some kind of employees or lab assistants walking around during business hours. Especially when a tour of schoolchildren was getting an up-close-and-personal with potentially dangerous equipment that was worth more than their teacher’s salary.</p>
<p>He made his way down the corridor and turned right when he felt a corner. He was sure this was the way they had gone.</p>
<p>He heard voices and stopped, moving towards them as two people-shaped-blobs stepped out of a door up ahead and walked away from him.</p>
<p>“I just don’t understand it,” one said, “the calculations aren’t wrong, and we have the ectoplasm to fuel the thing. It just won’t start.”</p>
<p>“I know, but as far as I’m concerned, this is a waste of money and effort.” The other agreed.</p>
<p>“Hunk of fancy junk is about its good for now I suppose.” The first one sighed, “I mean what is the boss thinking? The rest of our projects can save lives, thousands, if not millions. Why waste the energy on something as science-fiction as this?”</p>
<p>A pause, “Boss thinks other dimensions may have materials that could theoretically build a more sustainable industry here. It’s worth a shot after all. How many scientists have at least theorised this sort of stuff, far as I’m concerned though, this whole portal business is a little too Dr Who for me to start believing…”</p>
<p>Danny’s eyes widened, the portal. Tucker had mentioned it yesterday. A theoretical gateway to other worlds if they could get it started.</p>
<p>What he wouldn’t give to see that kind of technology.</p>
<p>“Too true,” the first scientist laughed, “oh well if Agent Scully can’t get it working, maybe we can use the frame for a new coffee machine when they take the thing down. Broken inventions don’t last long around here.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, or a better microwave, that thing practically brought my turkey sandwich to life!”</p>
<p>“Hey man, stranger things have happened, and do, with alarming regularity. Especially in this kind of science.”</p>
<p>Danny heard their footsteps begin to fade as the scientists walked down the corridor. He allowed himself the breath he’d been holding and stepped out from his hiding place. Danny was at a t-intersection with two long hallways sprawling in both directions. He squinted awkwardly down both and took the left path, away from the scientists.</p>
<p>He frowned slightly at himself, every instinct in his body was telling him that he should have just asked the scientists for directions. It’s what Jazz would have done, heck, it was what any normal person without their glasses and no idea where they were in a dangerous laboratory would have done. It also was the safe option and the most logical.</p>
<p>He put his hand out in front of his face and squinted at the pale flesh-coloured blur. The portal was going to have to wait till he could see two feet in front of him. Surely he could at least convince Tucker to bring him back here someday to see it before they tore the thing down.</p>
<p>Danny stopped, frowning in confusion before turning around. The hallway seemed even longer now than it had before. Either that or Danny’s eyesight was getting worse.</p>
<p>The pure white sheet that seemed to be pulled over his eyes was only interrupted by the grey smudge in the centre that served as the corridor’s end. And it seemed to be moving even further away the more he looked.</p>
<p>He rubbed his eyes. They had started to ache from the strain, it was like taking the crutch out from under a guy with a broken ankle. Sooner or later walking on it wasn’t going to help.</p>
<p>Danny fumbled for the wall, feeling something cold brush under his fingertips. Steel maybe, he supposed, it was a switch of some sort, that much he could make out.</p>
<p>What he couldn’t was what it was connected to. If it was the alarm, he’d probably get in some serious trouble, but at least someone would help him out of his situation. If it was the lights, that was fine too. The blinding white of the hallway coupled with his eyesight made it so he might as well be walking in the dark already.</p>
<p>The only thing that made him hesitant was the fact that there was something vaguely red marked next to the switch. At least he was seeing the red dots of differing size letters. Danny sighed. This was ridiculous, he was debating with himself whether or not to pull the <em>fire alarm</em> when he was just lost.</p>
<p>How did he seem to always find himself in these kinds of situations? <em>Well.</em> He stand corrected, how did <em>Dash</em> always manage to get Danny into these kinds of situations? The guy was a jerk sure, but the way he seemed to perfectly screw up every single one of Danny’s days was damn near impressive. Thinking of Dash’s stupid grinning face as he pulled Danny’s glasses off the end of his nose and leaving him for blind and lost however, was more than enough angry motivation for Danny to flip the switch out of sheer annoyance.</p>
<p>He half braced for the alarm to sound and some kind of panic to happen like he’d seen in the movies and was only half disappointed when a hydraulic clunking sound rang out next to his ear.</p>
<p>Danny blinked as a door swung open emptying the fluorescent lights of the white corridor into a dark hole in the wall by his right elbow.</p>
<p>Danny paused on the threshold. He couldn’t tell whether the opening led to a hallway or a room with equipment inside. He squinted, making out a faint white light towards the back of what he thought was a wider corridor. There was a beeping noise echoing from the darkness and Danny’s curiosity got the better of him as he stepped inside.</p>
<p>From the feel underfoot he was in a laboratory of some description. No longer was he walking across sterile linoleum floors, but instead across steel panels and the raised cylindrical snakes of cables. One caught his sneaker and he almost fell, managing to catch himself just in time.</p>
<p>From the blinking lights and whirring noises, Danny could only assume that a series of consoles and equipment lined the walls, chairs and closed computer screens. It was like walking on the set of a science fiction movie.</p>
<p>Danny pushed his hands out in front of his face, hoping to God he wasn’t going to run into anything. There was still that faint white light in front of him, and Danny could only guess that it was another exit to another hallway.</p>
<p>He took a step and gave a yelp as his foot banged into a raised dais. He muttered, stepping up and moving forward. He stopped. It could be his imagination, but he was sure the room just got darker.</p>
<p>He put his hand to the wall again and ran his fingertips along the strange textures. It felt like circuitry and wires. Rubbery cord caught on the ridges in his fingertips, the cool metal of motherboards and motors giving off a faint hum in the darkness of the room.</p>
<p>He frowned, pulling away, maybe he could find a light switch. He took another step forward and fell again, slamming his shoulder into cold metal through the latex of the hazmat suit. Something hummed and he froze.  </p>
<p>He got to his knees slowly, careful not to knock anything over as he stood. There was something very wrong with this room. He shouldn’t have stepped in here…</p>
<p>He took a step backwards, hoping to God that he could find his way out before lasers shot out of the wall and blasted him to pieces or something. Another step and something gave way under the heel of his foot.</p>
<p>Two great metallic doors slammed shut behind him with a clang and Danny yelped in surprise, stumbling back and falling to the ground.</p>
<p>A click sounded in the empty room and Danny stiffened. The mechanical whirring of the control panels getting louder as an eerie green light filled the darkness of the hole in the wall he was now lying trapped in. He gulped, even if it was vague to make out Danny knew all too well where he must be now.</p>
<p>The inner mechanisms of the portal were pulsating with some kind of green energy that was lighting up the circuitry like veins. Danny would probably have thought the sight pretty had he not currently been trapped within a machine that as of yet had no way of working.</p>
<p>He took a breath, it was alright… right? The scientists from before had said that the portal had yet to actually work right? So surely there….</p>
<p>A crackle from the back of the machine caused Danny’s heart rate to spike. He backed up to where he thought the doors were and started pounding, fumbling desperately at the walls for some kind of lever that would release him from this mechanism. He resorted to yelling, hoping someone would hear him. Another crackle and Danny felt the hair at the back of his neck stand up, tingling in the feeling of static electricity.</p>
<p><em>Oh hell</em>… Danny thought, spinning round to face the core of the machine. A bolt of electricity sparked for a second and Danny cried out, dropping into a foetal position and covering his head with his arms, thankful for the hazmat suit’s protection. Surely, he’ll be alright… this was just a bad dream. He’ll wake up soon.</p>
<p>Another crack and another. They were getting faster. More violent.</p>
<p>Danny gripped his head tighter, hoping, heck <em>praying</em> to whatever might listen that he’d get out of this room without being struck. The green energy started sparking as the machine whirred to its final note.</p>
<p>He shut his eyes, how could he have been so stupid?! Why did he wander off? Why did he not ask the scientists where he was? What would Jazz think of him now? Stuck, trapped in a science-fiction time machine with fizzling electricity crackling around him. Was this it? Was he done for? Would he ever see her again? Ever see Tucker again? Dad? Aunt Alicia?</p>
<p>Danny’s heart was racing even quicker as another bolt struck a plate of steel by his head, not two milliseconds later by his feet. Then a third smacked him in the side and Danny cried out.</p>
<p>The electricity ran through his ribcage and rippled down his arms as Danny’s muscles jerked him out of his protective ball. The pain was like fire, but he had barely registered it before another bolt of electricity zapped his shoulder spinning him onto his back so that he was looking up at the strange green energy giving life to the machine.</p>
<p>He shut his eyes as a scream tore itself out of his throat, the smell of barbeque wafting gently from when a bolt had fizzled by his jaw.</p>
<p>The bolts stopped and Danny panted, reaching up a gloved hand to grip his twitching shoulder in agony. <em>Was it over?</em></p>
<p>The electricity came harder, faster, striking one bolt after another in rapid succession. His leg, his chest, his forearm. With each bolt, a new level of intensity brought a new scream from his throat. A higher note, a louder volume. A fresh, new pain Danny thought he wouldn’t be able to bare.  </p>
<p>He couldn’t feel anything, his body and had arms become completely numb as electricity filled his mind. The sizzling green energy replacing the very fibre of his being as Danny writhed, his breath choked out in the firestorm. He closed his eyes only to see white intermingling with the green as his body started shutting down.</p>
<p>The light bore into him, freezing hot sizzling at his flesh to the point that Danny thought the skin was melting off his bones while burning ice burrowed down into his very soul, splintering tendons and nerve endings as it danced through him.</p>
<p><em>This is it</em> he thought, a cold sensation settling into his heart despite the heat of the energy that crackled around him. <em>I’m going to die</em>.</p>
<p>If he could still hold breath, if he could still move, still think, he might have laughed.</p>
<p>As it happens, some instinct deep inside him told him it was okay. Maybe he heard something, in the blinding, agonising, screaming storm. Maybe it was comfort?</p>
<p><em>It's okay</em>, his fried brain murmured at him, <em>let go</em>. </p>
<p>Danny Fenton stopped fighting, gave in.</p>
<p>Welcoming the cold if only to see the dark forever.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. I'm Not as Think as You Drunk I Am</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Greetings and Salutations!</p>
<p>So new chapter, new week. To be 100% honest, I think I've decreased in skill to write these notes at the start of each chapter so idk how many more I can take. Mayhaps this is just me trying to prove a failing thesis that I'm not dead and I swear I'm still writing this fic...</p>
<p>Okay I think I'll shut up now. </p>
<p>Happy reading!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Warmth. Safe. Tired. </em>
</p>
<p>Danny stirred against the covers of his bed, feeling numb in the waking moments from sleep. He frowned, slowly becoming more aware behind his eyes as his alarm blared in his ear, interrupting his dream. His eyelids were still heavy though and Danny struggled to open them, trying to turn over to hit snooze…</p>
<p>Wait.</p>
<p>Danny forced his eyelids to open with a snap and felt a jolt of terror rattle through his chest as he recognised the circuitry of the portal. A red light was flashing the beeping he had heard sounding from the control room.</p>
<p>He tried to move but couldn’t, grimacing as his hand merely twitched by his side. A fog had settled over his mind, he was thirsty, but more pressingly, he was so, so tired.</p>
<p>He didn’t know how long it had been, but he could feel every hair on his body standing ramrod straight in the buzzing numbness that forced him to close his eyes again. He needed to sleep…</p>
<p><em>No.</em> His fried brain muttered at him. <em>This isn’t right. </em></p>
<p>He opened his eyes again, focusing all his energy into his hand. Willing it to move. A twitch. Then slowly, very slowly, he managed to pull his hand towards his face, grimacing with the effort. He touched his face, feeling dull warmth under his tingling fingers. He dropped his hand to his neck, feeling his own pulse thud against his palm.</p>
<p>It was slow, dangerously slow, but he was <em>alive</em>. Somehow, he was still breathing.</p>
<p>Danny let out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding and sagged against the welcome cool of the machine floor.</p>
<p><em>Need to get out.</em> His consciousness whispered. <em>Out of portal.</em></p>
<p>Groaning Danny willed his hand to move again, this time turning his head if only for a fraction to see if he was still trapped.</p>
<p>He blinked away the fuzz, squinting out at the control room. <em>Oh thank God. </em>He thought, the doors must have opened at some point while he was unconscious.</p>
<p>Danny bit his lip, forcing his buzzing body to prop up on his arms. A sharp stab shook his spine and Danny winced, too tired to try and speak. The pain was aching, an afterthought in his mind, the very fibres of his joints screaming at him, telling him to just lie down again. It was pointless, it was only going to hurt more if he fought.</p>
<p>He grit his teeth harder, pushing himself into a commando crawl. His legs would take too much effort so he let them drag behind him, he hissed as he turned to look down at himself. He blinked groggily, satisfied that he was at least still in one piece.</p>
<p>His movements were slow, agonisingly slow, but eventually he made it to the lip of the dais out of the portal. Tumbling down the step to sprawl in a heap at the bottom. The pain was back again as he regained more control of his body.</p>
<p>Danny panted on his side and lying uncomfortably on the snaking wires that littered the floor he looked back up at the portal.</p>
<p>It was glowing, he could tell that much at least, a toxic green glow that pulsated with the same drumming slow rhythm as his own heartbeat. Danny winced, now was not the time to be impressed by the thing that very nearly killed him.</p>
<p>What if someone came in here, saw him on the floor? What kind of trouble would he be in then? A small voice echoed that he needed an ambulance, but Danny shoved it to one side, enough adventuring in these stupid labs he needed to go home.</p>
<p>Danny groaned and strained against his own muscles and pushed himself into a sitting position. Looking dumbly down at his own legs. He frowned; something wasn’t right… wasn’t he wearing some kind of hazmat suit earlier? He squinted down at his faded, unscathed jeans. This was weird…</p>
<p>He shook his head, wincing as the headache started throbbing against his skull. No point in overthinking it now. He needed to find Tucker. Apologise for walking off on his own and… and playing with things he didn’t know about.</p>
<p>Danny crawled to the nearest control monitor, using it as a prop as he pushed himself up onto his knees, then his feet. Swaying a grunting as he did so, every muscle in his body hurt like hell itself but he shut his eyes. He’ll feel better later, right now he needed to get as far away from the portal as he possibly could.</p>
<p>Stumbling a little, Danny staggered towards the door, practically falling into the fluorescent lights of the hallway. He blinked, groaning as the lights assaulted his eyes. Everything was bright, too bright and it only made the headache grow worse.</p>
<p>Not knowing which way up, Danny took a random corridor and walked down it, he no longer cared if he was lost. As long as civilisation was still running he’d eventually bump into someone that could show him the way.</p>
<p>An annoying ringing started in his ear and Danny stopped, pressing a hand to his temple as he leant against the wall. God his hearing was shot too? What the hell had happened?</p>
<p>He took another step and felt a door handle under his grip. No longer caring about any potential dangers he twisted and walked through. The robotics lab was a welcome sight, the tables and circuitry allowing him a small sigh of relief. The breath blew between his lips like it had clawed up his raw throat and he choked out a husky cough. Right, he needed help.</p>
<p>Clutching his head in one hand and his stomach in the other he made it back to the reception, practically falling in front of the woman behind the desk.</p>
<p>“Heavens!” she screeched, rushing to help him up, “You okay dear?”</p>
<p>Danny barked a hoarse laugh, Jesus what a question, “Yeah… just… a little unwell.” His voice sounded small, broken, and it <em>hurt</em> to speak.</p>
<p>“<em>Danny?!</em>”</p>
<p>Danny blinked, the tone of voice sounded familiar, the way it was shaped but he couldn’t picture the face until Mr Lancer had caught his other side.</p>
<p>“Oliver Twist boy! Where have you been?! We’ve been looking for you for almost two hours!”</p>
<p>The words barely skipped over his brain, two hours, looking… “What?” he rasped out and Lancer’s face twisted in concern.</p>
<p>“What happened? You look like you’re just about dead on your feet!”</p>
<p>Danny looked quizzically at his hands. “Dead?” Yes, he should be dead… but… why?</p>
<p>“Is this one of your students Edward?” the receptionist asked, turning her attention to Lancer and away from Danny as he stared blankly at his worn converse.</p>
<p>“Yes, this is the boy we’ve been looking for… do you mind if I take him back to the school now? It looks like he’s not feeling very well and—”</p>
<p>“Danny!!” another voice now, Danny frowned, who was this now? He barely had time to register the shape before Tucker had just about tackled him to the ground, grabbing his shoulders violently. “Are you alright? What happened to you? I was so worried! You missed all the rocket science!” Danny cried out as a sharp pain laced through his ribs and Tucker immediately retreated, hands up in defence, “Hey man, are you okay? You don’t look so good…”</p>
<p>“I…” Danny put a hand to his head, cradling his ribcage gingerly. “I don’t know… I….” He looked up at the faces of the people who were watching him. He couldn’t possibly tell them the truth, “I’m just tired…” he decided, “I need to go home…”</p>
<p>Lancer nodded, “We sent the other students back to school about half an hour ago, Mr Folely here and Miss Manson were the only ones who stayed behind to help look for you. Said it was very unlike you to wander off like that.”</p>
<p>Danny’s stomach did a backflip, Samantha stayed to look for him too? He gulped, forcing himself to speak. “I know, and I’m sorry, I thought I could find the NASA projects myself, but I got lost… it was irresponsible, and it won’t happen again sir, I swear. Would you be able to call my sister? I think I need to just go home at this point… I’m not feeling all too flash…” He was lying through his teeth he knew, he felt like he had just been put through a wood chipper but his level of tolerance to stay upright much longer was starting to fade.</p>
<p>Lancer nodded solemnly, “As long as you’re alright I suppose it’s okay. Mr Foley, would you please escort Mr Fenton outside.” Lancer gave Danny a reassuring pat on the back, “I hope you feel better Mr Fenton.”</p>
<p>Danny gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile as his vision started to blacken around the edges again. Tucker gave a kind of salute to the receptionist in farewell as he took Danny from Lancer’s grip.</p>
<p>He immediately sagged in Tucker’s hold, grateful for the support and Tucker grunted as he wrapped one of his friend’s arms around his shoulders, “Damn dude, you need to lay off the Nasty Burgers.”</p>
<p>If Danny had the strength, he would have hit him.</p>
<p>They made it to the car park without Danny’s wobbling legs giving out on him and he squinted. Somehow it seemed even brighter out here than the white, stainless corridors of the labs.</p>
<p>Tucker left Danny on the curb to call Jazz and for the first time Danny took a proper look at himself.</p>
<p>He was alive and oddly fine aside from the headache and occasional involuntary jerks that his legs gave. That and the fact he was two seconds away from passing out again or perhaps falling into some kind of coma, three seconds from potentially vomiting, his throat felt like he had swallowed sand. Still, Danny struggles to think. He was alive.</p>
<p><em>Alive</em>. That shouldn’t even be possible after… after… his eyebrows knitted together in frustration, what had happened again?</p>
<p>Tucker looked at his friend in concern. Danny had been sitting in the same position for a while now, his head in his hands. He frowned, it wasn’t like Danny to be so sick. The guy had the immune system of an armoured truck. Practically impenetrable he flat-out refused to stay home any day from school unless he was quite literally on his death bed. Tucker knelt in front of his friend in concern, he hoped Danny hadn’t drunk some radioactive liquid or some other dumbass tomfoolery in the labs.</p>
<p>Tucker placed a hand on Danny’s shoulder, flinching at the slight electric shock that zapped his finger before he gripped him tight. “Hey man, seriously, you alright?”</p>
<p>Danny moaned softy against Tucker’s grip, stirring ever so slightly. “What year is it?” His voice was croaky, unused. </p>
<p>Tucker’s frown deepened an unsure smile quirking at the corners of his mouth certain that Danny was just making a joke, “2020 what you stepped through a time machine or something weirdo?”</p>
<p>Danny moved again, whispering the year over and over to himself under his breath. Tucker opened his mouth to ask Danny if he needed anything, but a friendly car horn caused him to turn. Jazz had arrived.</p>
<p>She parked and walked over brow creased in worry. “Hey! What’s going on Tucker?”</p>
<p>“It’s Danny,” Tucker pinched the bridge of his nose, “He wandered off in the labs and now he’s not feeling too great.”</p>
<p>She nodded, rubbing the back of her neck and bending down to her little brother’s height on the side of the road. “Come on Danny, let’s get you home. Aunt Alicia made some rhubarb pie.”</p>
<p>Danny strained against his own heaviness to get to his feet. He was starting to feel worse now, worn out.</p>
<p>Tucker gripped him under the arms and pulled him up the rest of the way.</p>
<p>“Ow!” Danny grunted, clutching at his head as a sharp spike went through his skull. He blinked at his sister, ice blue eyes framed underneath the bangs of his dark hair. “Hey Jazz…”</p>
<p>“Alright you need some sleep young man. Get in. Thanks Tuck.” Jazz helped Tucker pile Danny, limbs and all into the front seat and hopped into the driver’s side, he was still gripping his head, knuckles white. “You got a ride home Tucker?” she asked.</p>
<p>Tucker shrugged, “Yeah I’ll manage, you just get him home," he rolled his eyes, "Danny should be kissing my ass for this.”</p>
<p>Jazz laughed, “Oh well, I’m sure you guys will figure it out. See you around!”</p>
<p>“Oh Jazz!” Tucker called, as the older girl started the engine.</p>
<p>“Yeah?”</p>
<p>“Dash took these from him, honestly I’m surprised Danny could walk without them. He’s more blind than I am!”</p>
<p>Jazz started as Tucker pulled Danny’s glasses out of his pocket and handed them over.</p>
<p>Danny squinted at them blearily as they passed under his nose. A peculiar twinge of shock running through him, ghost tendrils of electricity squeezing against his ribs. He hadn’t been wearing them this whole time? Jazz left them in the cup holder.</p>
<p>She took to the streets, driving them home. She chatted and sung along to the radio as she drove, asking him how school was.</p>
<p>But Danny wasn’t paying attention.</p>
<p>He was too taken aback by the crystal-clear amount of detail he could see.</p>
<p>It seemed he wouldn’t need his glasses after all. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Talk is Cheap and Lies are Expensive</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>G'day guys, gals and non-binary pals!</p><p>Let's start making this fic a little more interesting yeah? </p><p>Happy reading and see you next week!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Vlad Masters would never be pretentious enough to call himself a genius.</p><p>Oh. No, wait. Actually, he would.</p><p>He stood on the threshold of the DALV Corp head laboratory, a cold glass of scotch whiskey in one hand, the contract in the other and a massive grin spreading over his face as Damon Grey’s hands flew over the keys of the centre console.</p><p>If this business deal went through, he could be staring at global recognition and a huge amount of money for his company. Plus, a massive step in the right direction for both military resources and bioengineering.</p><p>The face of Maurice Foley filled the screen looking grim as Vlad greeted him, “Maurice, how fine it is to see you this evening.”</p><p>Maurice seemed anxious but coughed into his fist lightly before facing the camera again. “I wish I could say the same about you Mr Masters.”</p><p>Vlad brushed the comment away, settling the scotch on a table before sweeping his arms wide. “I trust we are all in order to continue, yes?”</p><p>“That depends,” Foley mused, “Are you on schedule?”</p><p>Vlad tried to hide the nervous laugh that escaped his lips, “Ah, on schedule? Yes. The enhancers paired excellently with the supplied biochemical from Axiom.”</p><p>“Ectoplasm. Masters.” Foley sighed, “We’re calling it ectoplasm.”</p><p>“Ah…” Vlad nodded gingerly, “right, why ectoplasm may I ask? We haven’t had much opportunity to truly test the biochemical out since you asked for the development of these weapons…”</p><p>Foley nodded, “We found the substance in a test experiment of our own unique portal design. It appears to be made of pure energy, a new and safer form of plasma that can be manipulated with electricity. While the prototype portal has yet to actually work for longer than a few seconds, the finding of this new plasma has allowed us to utilise and replicate this substance to produce an almost finite source of clean energy. The project that we hired your corporation for however, is strictly military and government run by the GIW. We were seeking to use this newfound ectoplasm as military weaponry...”</p><p>Vlad nodded in agreement, “Yes I know… I was just curious about the…”</p><p>“Masters.” Foley sighed, “With all due respect. We have decided to terminate your contract with us.”</p><p>Vlad’s stomach sunk to the floor as Foley’ s words settled like a fog on his mind. He laughed, “You’re joking right? You can’t afford to cut our funding now, not when we’re so close to perfecting your order…”</p><p>“I’m afraid you’re reports for human experimentation and using this energy source as a performance enhancer is far too unstable to continue funding. We really do appreciate your designs for actual weapons, but you must understand that the ethics of human experiments and ‘super drugs’ is far too dangerous to continue.”</p><p>Vlad felt the heat rise in his cheeks, “You can’t do this Foley! My drugs will enhance the performance of military personnel to a degree you have never seen before, if it goes global—”</p><p>“We may just have World War 3 on our hands Mr Masters. Enhancing human strength is unnatural for starters and incredibly dangerous for another. Think about it, what if the drug corrupts the minds of those who use it? What if it makes it out onto the streets and people use it a supplement? The useful properties of ectoplasm should be used as energy only, changing the very DNA of humankind could result in disastrous events and far too many deaths to count.”</p><p>“But—”</p><p>“No buts Mr Masters, look, we appreciate your scientific knowledge and your incredible drive to see the production and use of ectoplasm, but your attention has become skewed towards something I cannot possibly allow let alone continue to fund. Besides, please be honest with me Masters, what have you actually accomplished so far in this endeavour?”</p><p>Vlad bit his lip, “Our drugs are mere weeks away from organism testing. We should see whether they have any effect on actual animals and humans within the month. Which is exactly why it is so crucial that we are allowed to continue our work!”</p><p>“Which is also the reason we are terminating your contract immediately. We cannot allow you to complete these experiments Vlad. Please understand my position. Axiom is the major sponsor for this project, should the results end with complications the legal standings and ultimate blame will fall to me. Which is why the GIW have also requested that you cease your builds on the weapons. What good will they do currently while we are at peace with most of the world? As of the moment there are no major events that could solicit such high tech weaponry and ectoplasm is still too new to be tested safely in labs or one the battlefront of ongoing wars.”</p><p>Maurice looked apologetic as he stared down at Vlad from the big screen but Vlad himself couldn’t help feeling anything but cheated. “This is your fault Foley, you’ll regret this decision, mark my words!”</p><p>“I’m sorry Mr Masters, I truly am, for now however, I think some safer pharmaceuticals and actual medical drugs are of more consequence and of better use to the world. Why don’t you turn your attention to those? DALV after all is a medical facility, since your lead engineer Jack Fenton… left… your company has been focused far more on the branches of proper and useful products. Please return all samples of ectoplasm to Axiom by the end of the week and pursue these ridiculous fantasies no further.”</p><p>With that Maurice Foley nodded, “I hope to see you around Vlad.” Before clicking off.</p><p>The screen went dark.</p><p>Damon stood from the keyboard slowly, Vlad Masters had a habit of a bad temper and the recent news very likely meant that he was about to do something brash.</p><p>Sure enough the scotch smashed on the floor and Damon sighed.</p><p>“Damon!” Vlad snapped, “Maurice Foley thinks I’m an idiot it seems. I’m not an idiot, am I?”</p><p>“No sir.” Damon said, shaking his head. He found it was best to just nod and agree whenever it came to Vlad Masters.</p><p>“That’s what I thought…” The older man scratched his chin, “So…” Vlad walked over to the computer pulling up the details and collected research that DALV had managed to compile concerning the ectoplasm energy source. “How far exactly are the drugs away from proper testing?”</p><p>“About two weeks or so? Although if we continue on track, we may have them prepared within the next week.”</p><p>“They would work now then is what you’re saying…”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“I said, Damon, that the performance enhancers could potentially work now then. As in we could try human experiments as early as today, perhaps even this minute?”</p><p>Damon’s mind tripped, “What… but Mr Foley said…”</p><p>“I know what that buffoon<em> said </em>Damon, but frankly I don’t care, he doesn’t need to know what we do at our company. DALV is a partner of Axiom, I refuse to be run by it.”</p><p>Vlad typed away on the keyboard, entering the pin for the safe across the room. It opened with the sound of escaping air as the hydraulic doors allowed access to the prototype ectoplasmic drugs inside. Vlad smiled and walked inside, ignoring the sudden chill of the refrigerator through his impeccable suit.</p><p>He marvelled in his own work for a moment as the rows upon rows of gently glowing green phials lay on the shelves. Each a true testament to scientific discovery. What a fool Foley was, forsaking such an invaluable discovery. He’d show the man who the real idiot was. Ripping up their contract was so incredibly stupid of him. Couldn’t he see what Vlad was standing on?</p><p>He was on the precipice of something so new. So incredible raw and fresh that humanity couldn’t even possibly begin to imagine the benefits.</p><p>Vlad scooped three phials off the shelves, carrying them back over to the lab carefully. They were his children after all, the peak of his own accomplishments.</p><p>“Please Mr Masters,” Damon whined in his irritating voice, “The ectoplasmic enhancers just aren’t ready yet! We haven’t run any tests on even animals, only single cell organisms. I can’t possible allow you to conduct something like this. The data just doesn’t justify it!”</p><p>Vlad rolled his eyes, setting the phials into the prototype, Damon was starting to get on his nerves a little. “Now now, don’t be a coward Damon, risks are part of laboratory science.”</p><p>“But I’m asking you for the last time, Mr Masters. No, <em>Vlad</em>. We can’t do this!”</p><p>Vlad ignored him, typing in the commands as the ectoplasm in the phials entered into the machine that stood in the centre of the room. It was large and cage like, with a metal table and tubing piped through circuitry. Computers and medical equipment dotted the sides of the raised platform while a large needle glistened from its point, hanging from the ceiling.</p><p>“Look, let me reschedule then!” Damon was begging now, “With proper medical staff and a volunteer, that sounds reasonable right? You can’t possibly be thinking of putting me under that thing!”</p><p>Vlad paused, “You?” he laughed, “No, no, no Damon my friend. I shall be the one to experience the enhancers. All I need you to do is flip the switch. Think you can manage that?”</p><p>“Well… yes… but… look give me two weeks—”</p><p>“<em>Two weeks</em>? In two weeks, the ectoplasm will have ‘been returned to Axiom’” Vlad made a show of quotation marks with his hands, “and we will have truly lost the contract. Hell, DALV Corp may not even survive that long without Foley’s continued support.”</p><p>Vlad pressed a button and the long metal table slid out with a hiss. Finally. “Sometimes,” he grinned, unbuttoning his blazer and shirt collar. “You have to do something yourself to achieve anything.”</p><p>He removed his shirt and threw it aside. Damon was looking very uncomfortable now, “Are you sure about this sir. I mean, again the data…”</p><p>“Oh, to hell with the data Damon! 40,000 years of human evolution and we’ve barely even tapped the vastness of human potential. This, Damon,” he gestured at the machine, “is the future. Are you going to be as blind as Foley and just as scared or are you going to finally man up and become one of the first men in existence to cross that threshold?”</p><p>Damon stammered reluctantly but nodded, handing Vlad a syringe. Vlad looked at it, but Damon turned away, typing on the computer, “That’s the… it’s the enzyme that will act as a catalyst with the ectoplasm in your bloodstream. Without it we will have just wasted a sample. It acts as a conductor of electricity to an extent. We haven’t been able to successfully inject pure energy without a way of containing it within the cell. Or in this case, within your body.”</p><p>Vlad didn’t even wince as he jammed the needle into his upper forearm, depressing the plunger with a hiss. A cool tingle spread from the puncture and he grinned. Excellent.</p><p>Damon hurried to prepare the straps on the table as he pulled apart the clamps that would hold Vlad down during the procedure. Vlad grinned, unable to think about how a lesser man may have shied away from such a contraption, he sat, swinging his legs up onto the metal dais as Damon closed the steel harnesses around Vlad’s bare midsection and legs.</p><p>He closed his eyes. Wallowing in the few lasting moments he had of humanity. Oh well, he always figured that he didn’t have a whole lot of that to give away anymore.</p><p>Damon flicked a few switches and pressed buttons until Vlad felt the table slide into the cavernous cage of the machine. Circuitry passed by his head and Vlad’s expression hardened in the sudden realisation of what he was about to achieve.</p><p>The doors slid shut with a hiss and Vlad opened his eyes again, staring up at the needle and gently pulsing of ectoplasm in the darkness of the ceiling above.</p><p>He could see Damon through the glass, looking gingerly at him as he lay there, under the needle, humanity under the microscope. It was time.</p><p>Vlad raised his hand as much as he could in a thumbs up and Damon nodded, looking worried as the switch was flicked and the ectoplasm decompressed into the chamber.</p><p>Vlad closed his eyes again as the needle started to position itself. He took a deep breath.</p><p>The needle injected itself into his shoulder.</p><p>The cold was immediate. It was like ice, sliding into his organs, his heart, slowing his metabolism and strengthening his muscles.</p><p>Vlad grinned as it seeped into his bones, crept through his nerves.</p><p>He frowned when it flooded his vision, screamed when it touched his mind.</p><p>But all he saw was white.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>***</p><p>
  
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Damon Grey squinted into the chamber, his heart hammering in his chest as Vlad Masters went limp. His head lolling uselessly against the metal table as his body jerked violently against the restraints.</p><p>Damon’s eyes widened as he hurried over to the console, furiously typing the command to open the chamber. His fingers slipped on sweat and he grimaced, panicking as the door opened far too slowly.</p><p>He jumped onto the dais, no longer caring if the machine was still active. “Vlad!” he cried, hastily loosening the straps to get to Vlad’s bare chest. Vlad hadn’t moved since the spasms and Damon hurried to check his pulse.</p><p>He hurriedly pushed his fingers to his boss’ wrist, forehead beading with sweat. He gulped, it was silent in the lab, like the whole world was holding its breath.</p><p>He frowned, leaning closer. There was no pulse to Vlad Master’s bloodstream, just a steady… what was that? A hum? He pulled away, pressing his hands to Vlad’s chest and pumping, one, two, three… one, two, three. A breath escaped Vlad’s mouth, blowing ice cold into Damon’s face.</p><p>He stood back slightly, pulling his phone from his pocket as he dialled for an ambulance.</p><p>“Hi yes… there’s been an accident…” he stammered to the woman at the other end, “Address? Uh… DALV Corp…. who? this… this is Damon Grey… yes… is he breathing? Well—”</p><p>Damon dropped the phone, stumbling back from the dais. The woman on the receiver continued speaking, asking him if everything was alright. Damon shuddered, no. He decided, everything was very, <em>very</em> wrong.</p><p>Vlad’s eyes were open, which was a good thing he reckoned. But there was something so horribly <em>off </em>about them.</p><p>They pulsated in the light, deep, dark red against the stark white of the laboratory, unsettling and shaking Damon to the core. He shouted for help but could only watch in horror as Vlad Masters smiled, showing row upon row of sharp, pointed fangs.</p><p>Damon willed his feet to stand, scrambling to get out as the <em>thing</em> was Vlad Masters but wasn’t, snapped the metallic bands of the restraints.</p><p>Damon squeaked, tripping over his feet as he fell out of the chamber and slammed the button that closed the hydraulic doors.</p><p>They slammed with a defiant bang and Damon allowed himself a breath of relief.</p><p>The breath was cut short by the grin of the thing in the machine. It smiled, elongated fangs bared as his skin began to darken. Damon gulped, watching those red, unblinking eyes as the skin around them cracked and greyed to an almost ice blue.</p><p>Black darkened Vlad Masters’ hair, dyeing the colour as it stood there, towering over the man on the floor.</p><p>Damon felt frozen in place, fear coursing through his veins, mind screaming at him to run but the strangeness of what he had just witnessed caused him to hesitate.</p><p>The hesitation was all the thing needed; Damon barely had time to cry out in alarm as a bolt of purple energy struck the surface of the glass. At first Damon thought it was a spark from the machine, but as Not-Vlad pulled back, Damon shrieked as his former boss’ fist <em>glowed</em> with crackling energy.</p><p>Another strike, another. Damon found his will to move and got to his feet again, slamming his fist against the fire alarm as the glass began to crack, hairline fractures spiralling outwards from the point of impact.</p><p>Damon made it to the door just as the glass shattered and the thing stepped out. He glanced over his shoulder, fumbling with his key card.</p><p>A cold hand gripped his shoulder, sliding like ice through the fabric of the lab coat. Damon froze. Turning his head ever so slightly to look up into the horrifying, twisted, greyed face of Vlad Masters, looking into the glowing red eyes devoid of remorse or of mercy.</p><p>A sharp pain rippled through Damon’s body as the talons on Masters’ hand dug into his shoulder, drawing blood that pattered to the floor as Damon screamed.</p><p>The thing lifted Damon from the door as he yelled in fright and flung him across the room. He hit the console, crashing into buttons and switches, spilling paper and circuitry across the floor as he skidded to a stop, a sharp pain in his ribs catching his breath.</p><p>His glasses shattered on the linoleum floor and Damon looked up into the face of a monster as it picked him up like a rag doll.</p><p>Damon Grey shut his eyes, wondering if this was the moment that he was going to die. A pain like fire dug into his left side and Damon howled, opening his eyes. The thing tilted its head, almost curiously, hooking and tearing at the hole it had made in Damon’s abdomen.</p><p>It dropped Damon as he gasped and caught him by the throat, throwing him against the fragile window of the chamber. Glass fell like rain and Damon remembered the night his wife had died in a car crash bitterly.</p><p>Was this it?</p><p>An image of his daughter flooded his mind and Damon choked, the talons of Vlad Masters wrapping around his throat, tightening against his windpipe, cutting off his air, a tear slid down his cheek. But the monster only grinned, its red eyes bright in the fading light of Damon’s vision.</p><p>“Excellent job Mr. Grey.” The hissed, warped voice came from between sharp fangs.</p><p>But Damon Grey was already dead.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Have You Heard the News that You're Dead?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Aha,,, here we go, the *fun* chapter boys. </p><p>A much longer chapter as well, so I'm sorry if it's incomprehensible at times. I was half asleep 90% of the writing time...</p><p>Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Danny slept for almost 17 hours.</p><p>When he finally did wake up it was almost noon and the sun was well into the sky. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and rested his head in his hands. Silently grateful that Jazz had made sure he had a day off after what happened.</p><p>What a nightmare yesterday had ended up being.</p><p>He ran a hand through his greasing hair, sighing at the familiar touch of his bangs through his fingers. But he was okay. He was sure of it now.</p><p>There was no lasting pain, no fatigue, just the same and healthy Danny Fenton. He opened his eyes again looking around his room quizzically. This odd ability to <em>see</em> things was still in place it appeared, perhaps, Danny reckoned, even sharper than yesterday. He squinted, marvelling at the detail of his model rockets on the bookshelf across the room. That was definitely weird.</p><p>He picked his glasses up off the bedside table, turning them gently in his hands. He frowned, lifting the frames to his eyes and sliding them in place to the bridge of his nose, settling on the soft groove between his eyes worn thin from years of use.</p><p>He strained against the fuzz. Blinking rapidly as his brain started to hurt against the lenses. He took them off again, puzzling over the lingering feeling of wearing a pair of glasses from a chemist. The kind when you knew the prescription was off.</p><p>He replaced the glasses on the nightstand. At least that was a positive outcome to being electrocuted. He could stop having to get new ones every year as his eyesight worsened. He shrugged; he could get away with his freakish sight-recovery by managing to convince Jazz that he’d finally manned up to wearing contacts. That shouldn’t be too hard and if it was the only side effect to being shocked to near-death, Danny was satisfied.</p><p>He got up, padding over to the chest of drawers by the door, pulling out fresh underwear, jeans and a t-shirt. His favourite one today. He was feeling good. He was feeling light. But he knew that Jazz would be eager to know if he was okay as well.</p><p>He opened his door, maybe a little too enthusiastically as the signage on the front rattled against the wood. Danny stopped. A sudden thought dawning in his mind. He was never this positive, that was a red flag. What if this was all just a dream? No way was he alive after such an ordeal. If he wasn’t dead and this wasn’t heaven, then maybe he was in a coma? So burnt beyond recognition that even Jazz would have barely recognised him.</p><p>A cold feeling settled in Danny’s chest as he looked at the bunch of clothes in his hands. He ran his fingers over the denim of the jeans in panic. They were coarse, rough with use. He frowned, normal, solid. He had to be sure, he pinched his arm so hard it hurt. But Danny only shut his eyes.</p><p>
  <em>Please be real, please be real. </em>
</p><p>He opened his eyes, seeing the familiar photographs of his house. The smiling faces of Danny, Jazz, Dad… and Mom.</p><p>Air blew threw his lips as he sighed, smiling at his Mom’s pictured face, her laughing features laying a delicate hand on a gap-toothed Danny’s shoulder. A silent reassurance. <em>You’re okay.</em></p><p>Danny laughed sharply, grinning like an idiot. How many 17-year-olds could say they survived a mass electrocution? His smile wavered, he’d have to tell Tucker that he lost the hazmat suit though. He hoped it wouldn’t be too missed.</p><p>Danny sent a silent prayer of thanks to the vanishing latex before opening the door to the bathroom.</p><p>Sunlight dappled through the blinds, casting shadow and light on the ceramic sink. Mom’s favourite diffuser, sea salt and rose, still sat on the windowsill. The dead and dried flowers on the bench in the same blue porcelain as always. Her presence was still here. Collecting dust and bugs. Long dry to the bone.</p><p>The door closed behind him and he locked it, no way was Jazz coming in here on his watch as he turned his attention to the shower. Sighing in relief as the warm water started its steady spray.</p><p>As he undressed, he took a moment to stare silently at his body. Holding his hands to his new eyes.  They were unmarked, pale in the late morning sun.</p><p>He shook his head; he shouldn’t be worrying so much. He was fine. He was alive. There was nothing that could tell he’d nearly died, no scars, no burns, nothing that placed him inside the portal at Axiom Labs. No security cameras, no people, just Danny’s lie that he was wandering and got lost. He would be okay.</p><p>So why didn’t he believe it?</p><p>Danny stepped into the shower, closing his eyes as he washed away all the issues and demands of the last day, a small smile tugging at his lips as he ran his hands through his hair, the water causing his skin to feel rubbery in the spray.</p><p>A tingle ran down his spine and Danny frowned as a headache started behind his eyes, clutching his neck awkwardly, he shut the water off. That was weird. He stepped out.  An electric shock buzzed between his fingers and Danny yelped in surprise, opening his eyes and pulling his hand away.</p><p>He froze.</p><p>He was wearing gloves.</p><p>Danny blinked, wait what? He blinked a few more times in the pure shock of wearing gloves in the bathroom. Then he frowned, peering curiously and running them over each other to make sure they were real. Did he put them on?</p><p>He followed his hand back towards his arm and yelped awkwardly, stumbling back a bit before slipping onto his back. Looking straight up at the ceiling in a wet patch on the floor.</p><p>He pushed his hands in front of his face again, looking down at himself in the morning sun. He was wearing some kind of jumpsuit, black, with a white belt and boots.</p><p>He felt panic rise in his chest, did he black out? Did he somehow unconsciously steal and put on this weird Halloween costume? Fear rose in him again, oh <em>God</em>, did he… did he do it <em>naked</em>?</p><p>Danny shook his head, lying back down and panting, no, no this had to be some kind of trick.</p><p>He pushed himself up into a sitting position on the floor and grabbed a towel. He would just have to get the thing off, find the proper owner and return it, no biggie. He took a deep breath and stood up, his back to the sink.</p><p>There was a soft knock at the door. “Hey Danny, you in there?” Jazz’s voice floated across the bathroom and Danny jumped, inadvertently throwing the towel around his already-clothed waist.</p><p>“Uh, yeah just a second.” He paused, his brow furrowing, what was wrong with his voice?</p><p>“You okay in there?” Jazz’s concern leaked into the room like water. “You still sound sick.”</p><p>Danny licked his lips, testing the words out mentally before uttering them, “No… I’m feeling good today, must have been the sleep.” He put a gloved hand to his throat, he sounded like he was shouting into a cavern. His own voice echoed back to him and Danny almost shuddered, it felt cold.</p><p>He could practically hear Jazz’s scepticism through the closed wood of the door, but he was thankful that she merely said, “Maybe you’re finally going through puberty… anyway lunch is ready!” before walking away.</p><p>Danny let out a breath and sagged against the towel rail, or he would have sagged against it. If it had been there.</p><p>Danny gave a yelp as he fell backwards, <em>through</em> the rail and<em> into</em> the wall. Gasping at the sudden feeling of surfacing from a cold dive. He opened his eyes and stared at the foundations of his house buzzing with adrenaline. Pipes and steel bars of brick and dust. Had he put a hole through the wall?</p><p>He fell back into the bathroom in shock, feeling nothing but a cool tingle as he physically phased back through the mirror and into the sun. Danny’s heart began to race in his chest, pounding loudly in his ears.</p><p>His brain skipped a beat. “Uh…” he mumbled, that same echoing coldness bouncing around the room. This was impossible. What was going on?</p><p>Pulling himself together, Danny closed his eyes, turning to see his reflection.</p><p>It was only then that he finally screamed.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>Danny sat trembling on his bed. He was looking at his hands in quiet panic, watching them shake and tremor. The door to his bedroom was locked with his desk chair and textbooks stacked against it for good measure.</p><p>This was insane.</p><p>He got to his feet, pacing in circles while his mind raced a marathon. He closed his eyes, counted to ten, then looked at his reflection in the mirror behind the door again.</p><p>The <em>white</em> hair and <em>glowing green </em>eyes of his reflection stared back at him and Danny jolted, looking away.</p><p>He sat on the bed and drooped forwards; this couldn’t be happening. His stared miserably at the alien white strands that fell in front of his eyes and sighed. Reaching a gloved hand up to pull at them glumly, nope, they were still real.</p><p>What was he going to do? His Dad and Jazz would surely have a fit and Aunt Alicia might even try to punch him. What would they even say? Would they take him to hospital? What was even wrong with him in the first place?</p><p>He looked at his hands again, tugging experimentally at the latex.</p><p>The glove came free and Danny stared at his own hand. Pale in the light, the skin was almost translucent, pulsing with a faint green energy.</p><p>Maybe this was just some kind of delusion, he’d heard people talk of hallucinations following a traumatic experience. Maybe that’s all it was…</p><p>Danny pulled off the other glove and pressed his… fuck… his <em>glowing</em> fingers to his ice-cold wrist, hoping for something, anything.</p><p>There was only a hum, like static, not a heartbeat.</p><p>Danny closed his eyes. Falling back on to his bed. His head smacked into the floorboards and he jolted, looking up at the underside of the mattress.</p><p>He passed back through the space-print covers experimentally, the new, usually cold feeling of intangibility seeping through his body. He put his head in his hands, that was the third time that had happened.</p><p>Surely this wasn’t permanent, his racing mind asked desperately. Whatever the portal had done to him, it should be able to be reversed right? He frowned into his palms; he was fine when he woke up. Completely normal before the shower…</p><p>He shut his eyes again, maybe all he had to do was focus…</p><p>A spark of electricity ran down his spine, curling in his stomach and Danny gasped as warmth flooded his body. He coughed awkwardly, falling to his knees and opening his eyes to his legs.</p><p>They were pink, fleshy, warm, naked. <em>Alive</em>.</p><p>He sprang to his feet, pulling his hair down and almost cheering at the familiar raven black bangs, looking over to see his own, old reflection staring back at him.</p><p>Blue eyes, black hair, dazed expression, no glasses. Danny Fenton.</p><p>He pressed his fingers into his neck. Felt his heartbeat against them and fell onto the bed in relief. So, it wasn’t permanent… but…</p><p>Danny looked at his hand, it didn’t feel real… it felt like a temporary mask. Like that other form was still <em>there</em>, just under the surface.</p><p>He shook his head, whatever it was, it was gone for now, that’s all he could ask for.</p><p>Pulling on his jeans, shirt and sneakers, Danny looked at himself in the mirror again. Watching himself as if he was a stranger. Inspecting the features that made him so wholly him as if they were new. On someone else’s body.  The lanky limbs and pale skin of his arms and legs. The way his shirt hung awkwardly off one shoulder as it had done almost all his life. The long, flopping black hair that spilled into his blue eyes. He looked normal. And it scared him stiff.</p><p>There was something so, unnatural about his reflection now. Something he knew was there that probably no one else would. If he could help it. So normal, so plain looking…</p><p>Danny felt a spike of guilt trip his heart, there was something about that other Danny that intrigued him beyond what he would ever admit. There was this unknown… <em>power</em> that he could feel at the very core of his chest. Beating like a second heart.</p><p>He closed his eyes again, maybe he could control it, harness this new side of him, use it somehow. Danny could feel that cold deep in his bones, the longer he focused on himself the more he could feel it spread, tingling down his arms like lightening. He shuddered. It felt like a barrier in his chest, a wall that he could push.</p><p>Curiosity got the better of him and he did, feeling coolness rush over him, the static shock of cold electricity building in his chest before bursting out.</p><p>He opened green eyes to that alien Danny in the mirror. White hair and black suit, glowing faintly in the midday sun. He stared, it almost seemed familiar now the shock had passed. Like this was always meant to happen to him, been always a part of who he was.</p><p>He pressed his hand to his face, feeling ice through gloves and fingers but not shock. There was potential here and he knew it, there was more to this than just a form that could pass through solid objects.</p><p>The portal had done something to him that no one had ever seen or heard about, it had changed him irreversibly, changed the very fibre of his being, his body, heck his DNA. Scientific curiosity was taking over him now, and instead of noticing Danny Fenton standing in his room, Danny realised he was staring at something new, a new species or specimen. No longer human, this form was something <em>else</em>…</p><p>He looked dead, and maybe he was Danny’s mind echoed, as the hum-not-heartbeat chilled his veins. He didn’t feel dead though… still alive, partially at least.</p><p>He closed his eyes to the dead-Danny in the mirror and focused on the warmth in his chest grunting with the effort Danny gasped as he came up for air in the land of the living. </p><p>He didn’t leave his room for the rest of the day.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p>
  
</p><p>By evening he had decided not to go back to school the next day.</p><p>He barely had any control on whatever had happened to him. If he focused hard enough, he could shift between being Danny Fenton and being a freak when no one was looking but so far that was about it.</p><p>It had been a shock at first, how easily it was to do something so weird, but Danny was slowly getting used to the idea as the day went on. He’d spent it in his room, pretending to sleep, the chair jammed under the doorknob as he switched in and out of human and… well <em>not</em>.</p><p>It was almost 8:00 when he started experimenting with his new glowing skin, illuminating the sheets in the dusk of evening. He was like a jellyfish he supposed, glowing in the dark just faintly from beneath the pale white, green veins of his skin. It was just weird.</p><p>Danny stuck his hand through his pillow again frowning at the cold water-feeling as he pulled back.</p><p>So far, he’d been able to use intangibility on small objects when he concentrated, when he didn’t concentrate though, he would fall through his chair by accident.</p><p>The fact that it happened in the ‘regular’ Danny mode was what freaked him out the most. If it could happen while he was ‘normal’ then it could happen in class. What the hell was he going to do if he suddenly fell through the floor in Physics?</p><p>Often, he didn’t even notice it was happening till he was halfway through the ground. Scrambling to get back on his feet.</p><p>Danny sighed, staring at the ceiling in his own eerie glow. Should he tell Tucker? Should he tell his family?</p><p>Danny let go of the cold form and sagged in his pyjamas. Maybe it was better if he didn’t… they would definitely freak out, heck, he’d probably be dissected, and he’d certainly never get into NASA with ‘Grade ‘A’ Freak of Nature’ written on his CV.</p><p>He held up a hand in the dark, normal kid then? Normal kid with ability to change his hair colour and phase through objects at random moments?</p><p>He had brought the mirror closer since he’d started practicing all afternoon. He stared at his black hair, pushed at the cold rush and watched the unnatural white ring of energy, like plasma, wrap around his waist and split.</p><p>It was so supernatural Danny blinked as his heart slowed to that odd hum, eyes opened green and that peculiar snow white greyed his hair.</p><p>Danny shook his head, pressing the heels of white gloves into his eyes as he sat back on the bed, there was no way he could go back to school now was there? Not until he at least knew what he was dealing with…</p><p>Danny looked to the window, watching the lights of Amity Park glimmer in the sunset. The large dot on the horizon that was Axiom Labs taunting him from its distance.</p><p>Almost methodically, without thinking about it, he crossed to the closet and pulled out a duffle bag, rifling through his drawers as he stuffed it full of clothes. He threw in a couple of textbooks but left his phone on the bedside table.</p><p>They would worry, he knew they would. But there was something that echoed at the back of his mind that they would be okay at the end of it all. This wasn’t a choice he had, if people found out what he could do by accident, Danny may not even have a future to look forward to.</p><p>Danny left his room as it was, phasing out through the door and tiptoeing downstairs noiselessly, duffle bag slung over one shoulder.</p><p>It was strange, walking around his house in the middle of the night, everything appeared alien in the darkness, illuminated only by the glow of his skin.</p><p>Danny stopped in the hall, looking forlornly over the photographs along the walls. Danny and Jazz at school, mom, dad, Aunt Alicia. Even Tucker was strung up, he and Danny proudly showing off the robot they had won the Amity Park Science fair with. The unearthly light of his skin illuminating the normality and life he’d known.</p><p>He looked down at himself, feeling silent tears drip onto the back of his hand, toxic green and glowing like the rest of him. If he left now, he’d be leaving that life for good.</p><p>He looked at himself in the mirror above the coatrack, as he’d done all day. A glowing figure in the dark of the hall. The sombre realisation dawning that he really had no other option at this point. He needed answers, and normality would never give him one he was satisfied with.</p><p>Danny steeled himself, sniffing softly and phasing through the front door and out into the rain.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. There's a Ghost in this Room, I Think I'll Name it After All of You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been well over a week since Tucker had heard anything from Danny and he was getting worried.</p>
<p>After three days, he was uneasy, but Danny was known for his inability to use a phone, so it wasn’t too bad. By the fifth day he considered calling Jazz, hoping to God Danny hadn’t died in his sleep or something as he was starting to miss crucial parts of school.</p>
<p>After a week, the rumours started, saying that ‘Fenton had gone AWOL’, ‘The geek has finally skipped class for good’, ‘Thank God, he’s left the school entirely’, ‘maybe he’s dead?’</p>
<p>By the week and a half point of hearing nothing, Tucker decided to walk to the Fenton’s and find out for himself.  Danny had been his best friend for as long as he could remember, so for him to be staying at home and away from school for this long was uncharacteristic to say the least.</p>
<p>The Fenton household was rarely taken seriously by most, ever since Jack Fenton left DALV Corp his reputation in tatters they would even be considered mad by anyone who didn’t know them any better.</p>
<p>Tucker nodded to the old woman at the corner store before crossing to stand before the brick multi-storey building. The front door was ancient, worn thin by rain and heat, the chipped black paint peeling away from the corroding brass of the doorknob.</p>
<p>He hesitated, knocking softly against the door, once, twice, three times.</p>
<p>“Danny?!” A high-pitched voice sounded from the other side, the front door swinging inwards as Tucker was suddenly wrapped in a bear hug before he could retaliate.</p>
<p>“Uh… um… hi Jazz?” he patted her shoulder awkwardly, she stiffened pulling back and then letting him go immediately when she recognised who he was.</p>
<p>“Oh uh… Tucker… hello.” Tucker could feel the disappointment in her voice even though she tried to hide it and his brow furrowed.</p>
<p>“Are you all okay?” He asked, “I came by ‘cause I hadn’t heard from Danny in a while and—”</p>
<p>“You absolutely sure you haven’t heard from him?” Jazz asked, tears starting to brim at her eyes. “So he isn’t with you?”</p>
<p>Tucker blinked, “No, I haven’t seen him since Friday, a week ago, with you. Jazz what’s going on?”</p>
<p>She broke down then, sobbing loudly into her hands, “Tuck… I don’t know where he is… I had hoped he was with you all this time but now…”</p>
<p>He felt awkward, Tucker was an only child and he never quite understood what to do when girls cried, he patted her shoulder. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on okay? I’ll… uh… I’ll make you some tea?” He didn’t know if that would help, but it’s the sort of thing his mom would say to make his dad feel better.</p>
<p>She nodded and opened the door a little more to allow him to pass.</p>
<p>The house was a mess. Usually the Fenton’s house was, but this time it was overkill. Clothes, books and dishes littered the table, empty Chinese takeout containers and noodle boxes piling high on the coffee table in front of the TV which was switch on to the news.</p>
<p>Danny’s aunt Alicia looked up hopefully when they entered, only to sag again when she saw it was Tucker. Alone.</p>
<p>Tucker helped Jazz to the kitchen bench, pulling out a stool and brushing the chip packet to the floor so she could sit down.</p>
<p>He turned away, filling up the kettle with fresh water as his brow started to crease in worry. What had happened here? What did Jazz mean by ‘hadn’t seen him’? Had Danny <em>run away</em>?</p>
<p>He tried to spark conversation with Jazz as she sat with her head in her hands on the bench, staring blankly down at the untouched cup of chai.</p>
<p>She looked even worse close up now, Tucker thought, her hair was greasy and tangled up into a half-hearted bun. Her clothes were too big, hanging off her in odd positions. She looked at him with a weak smile and Tucker felt a pang in his heart as he noticed the deep bags under her eyes.</p>
<p>“Jazz when was the last time you slept a full night? Or ate anything?” Tucker asked, trying to sound soothing.</p>
<p>She shrugged, looking at the kitchen window wistfully, “I dunno… Saturday maybe?”</p>
<p>Tucker tried not to look shocked, it was Wednesday, that was four days ago.</p>
<p>He shook himself, frowning as he put a hand to hers, “Hey Jazz. Hey.” She looked at him, “when was the last time you saw Danny?”</p>
<p>“Saw him?” she echoed, “When he went to bed after the Axiom tour… noticed he wasn’t here? Probably the Sunday after… that was…”</p>
<p>“A week ago.” Tucker answered inadvertently, regretting it instantly as Jazz began to cry again. “Shh…” he said, oh great this was going swimmingly, “why do you think he would leave? Where do you think he’d go?”</p>
<p>Jazz closed her eyes, taking deep breaths, “I thought he’d go to you… I thought that maybe…”</p>
<p>“Jazz, have you told the police?”</p>
<p>“No… I figured that if Danny was with you he would have a good reason for leaving his phone and glasses here and taking clothes and…”</p>
<p>“Hey, it’s alright…” Tucker lied, the truth was that his stomach twisted horribly, where the hell was Danny? He’d never even yelled at a teacher let alone reach this level of rebellion. <em>Oh D</em>, he thought, stroking the back of Jazz’s hand gently with his thumb, <em>look what you’ve done now, you better have a good reason for this dickhead.</em></p>
<p>After about a half hour of rubbing Jazz’s hand uselessly, Tucker suggested going to the police, putting up poster or doing something. “I could get my dad involved, he’s good friends with the sheriff, the mayor too, I’m sure we could do something…”</p>
<p>Jazz sniffled, rubbing at her eyes, “Thanks Tucker… I… I’m sorry I’m such a mess…”</p>
<p>Tucker gave a soft chuckle that he thought was comforting, “I don’t blame you, if I had a younger brother that suddenly disappeared I wouldn’t be any better… but we’ll find him,” Tucker added quickly, “We’ll find him Jazz, wherever he is. And I’m sure he’s fine! He’s a smart guy, even if he acts like a dumbass 90% of the time. Okay?”</p>
<p>Tucker gave her a smile, reaching into his pocket and dialling his father’s contact. He stood up from the kitchen bench as he explained the situation to him, passing the phone over to Jazz with a pat on the back. “The sheriff is on the other end, okay Jazz? You just need to answer a few questions about the last time you saw him okay? Is that alright?”</p>
<p>Jazz grabbed a final handful of tissues, wiping away her tears in an attempt to compose herself before taking the phone from the younger boy. Tucker rubbed her shoulder comfortingly, explaining he was going to head upstairs to Danny’s room and leave the school notes he’d brought with him on his desk, “He’s gonna need to start revising when he gets home or Lancer’s going to have his head…” </p>
<p>Jazz nodded and Tucker made his way across the hall, taking the steps two at a time till he reached the landing. Danny’s room was the first on the left and Tucker frowned at the half open door, clearly forced into from the outside.</p>
<p>Tucker pushed against the layers of textbook to walk into the room he knew the best out of any of them in this house.</p>
<p>The model rockets and space posters adorned the walls, the clothes and textbooks on the floor. The rough spaceship designs pinned to the board above the bed but no Danny. Tucker sighed, pulling handfuls of clothes into his arms and dumping them into the basket by the door till there was at least a pathway to the bed.</p>
<p>It was finally at this point that Tucker noticed the odd details. He frowned, Danny’s phone and glasses were still on the bedside table. He picked them up, the thick lenses distorting the light of the setting sun.</p>
<p>The full mirror glinted near the foot of the bed and Tucker frowned, sitting on the bedframe and peering at the reflective surface. Was Danny looking at himself?</p>
<p>Tucker shook his head to clear it, no they would find him. Wherever he was, he would come home, or to school, or Tucker’s house eventually right?</p>
<p>He placed the stack of photocopied notes on Danny’s desk and turned to leave. His eye caught on something on the pillow and Tucker stopped, eyes narrowing as he walked back over.</p>
<p>It was small, a patch of green against the white of the cotton pillowcase. Tucker fought the urge to touch it but as the sun set lower in the sky, darkening the room. The glowing, fluorescent substance on his best friend’s bed caused him to back away. He thought he recognised it… but he couldn’t be sure.</p>
<p>As he descended the stairs a horrible feeling settled in his bones. Hadn’t the police found a similar glowing substance when they found Maddie Fenton dead in her bed?</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Danny stood in the hall of the abandoned Townsend house, running his hands through white hair in frustration. He was officially out of ideas.</p>
<p>The floor was dusty and grime covered, eaten by rats and termites in some areas but Danny didn’t care much as long as it gave him shelter for a few days while he practiced his new abilities. No one dared enter this house except a few squatters and kids on Halloween trying to scare each other.</p>
<p>It was the perfect hideout, and really the only one he could think of.</p>
<p>He frowned, so far, he’d managed to phase through objects just by thinking about it, switch forms and… float? Or would it more be considered a hover?</p>
<p>He tested it again, rising a few inches off the floor and standing, weightless in the centre of the would-be foyer. It was exhilarating and reminded him of the water tank at Space Camp he’d attended in Year 10, holding him, suspended with nothing.</p>
<p>He rose a little higher, lying on his back in mid-air, grinning madly at the sensation. It was soft like a tingle, but he felt so light, like the tiniest breeze would sway him in any given direction.</p>
<p>He touched down on his feet again, letting go of the floating feeling with a sigh, cold air blowing through his lips. When he got the hang of it Danny was sure he could fly…</p>
<p>There was a rattle of the doorknob and Danny floated again, rising to the chandelier and settling gently on it, only a few inches from the steel frame.</p>
<p>A pair of kids had walked in, Danny recognised them as being two years below him at Casper High.</p>
<p>He watched the kids as they took turns going into the different, forgotten rooms of the house, trembling as they did so, phone clutched in their hand.</p>
<p>A dare then, Danny smiled softly down at them from his perch as they started up the stairs. Danny dropped lightly, landing noiselessly back on the foyer floor. He closed his eyes, feeling for the solidity of the floor and pushing past it, phasing down into the basement.</p>
<p>He landed on concrete and sighed at his makeshift setup in the corner.</p>
<p>He’d managed to find some not-entirely-moth-eaten blankets and an almost-not-mouldy pillow in some of the upstairs bedrooms. His duffle bag lay at the foot of the old mattress among the half-eaten chip packets and chocolate bar wrappers he’d brought with him.</p>
<p>Danny frowned, in this form he found he rarely needed to eat, or sleep for that matter. It was like he was his own self-sufficient battery, running on nothing but the hum of his veins. He was afraid of what could happen when he switched back however, would it all catch up with him? He breathed again, frowning, there was no relief tied to the action. It was like he was underwater.</p>
<p>It spooked him, this weird, light version of himself that glowed in the dark and passed through the walls. He still didn’t have any explanation as to how it even happened…</p>
<p>He scratched his head, feeling the cool through his skin but not registering it. His family would be worried sick. He didn’t even know how long it had been since he left on his soul-searching journey of being homeless… a week maybe? Or had it only been a day or two?</p>
<p>The house was silent, and Danny listened for a few minutes before he figured the kids had left, their adventuring done for the day as he floated back up through the floor and into the long-forgotten dining room.</p>
<p>He sighed in the odd familiarity the room brought, the cracked and frosted window frames creaking with every breath of wind in the still evening. Danny allowed himself to float again, relishing the feeling of weightlessness.</p>
<p>A scream shook him violently out of his calmness, causing him to turn in horror, eyes wide and illuminating the empty space as the Casper High students stood in the doorway.</p>
<p>Oh <em>shit</em>.</p>
<p>Danny blinked, starting to panic, if this form allowed him the sensations of breathing he didn’t feel it as his mind raced, staring down at the students with the same horrified look.</p>
<p>Finally, one of them, the one… oh shit <em>oh shit</em>… the one <em>recording</em> Danny, screamed that <em>word</em> again,</p>
<p>“<em>GHOST!?!”</em></p>
<p>His friend, backed away, staring at Danny in disbelief and fear. “No wait…” Danny started, but his hollow, echoing voice simply caused the kids to run, yelling out of the house.</p>
<p>Danny lost control of his weightlessness and fell heavily to the floor, slamming his shoulder into the floorboards and crashing through them to the lower level.</p>
<p>He groaned, smacking his forehead at his own incompetency. Great, now he was a freak that was probably going to be all over YouTube by morning. <em>What a way to go Fenton</em>…</p>
<p>He frowned, laying his arm across his stomach as he looked up through the hole he had made in the floor. What had the kid called him? A <em>ghost</em>?</p>
<p>Danny laughed, as <em>if</em>. Ghosts didn’t exist for a start; he’d been around his dad long enough to know it was a hollow obsession that kept him confined to the basement.</p>
<p>He got to his feet, brushing himself clean and staring down at the near familiarity of the glowing suit and boots.</p>
<p>He paused, wait.</p>
<p>He allowed himself to float back up to the dining room, shuddering in the cold for the first time in days. He stopped, staring at himself in the dusty, grime-covered mirror above the broken mantle, the hearth long frozen with a forgotten warmth.</p>
<p>Danny looked at the white hair, the way he glowed in the dark his mind ticking over that word, <em>ghost</em>, testing it on the back of his tongue. He peered through the cracks, taking a good look at the suit he wore, tight fitting, made of latex. He had thought it was a stupid costume up until this point but now… his eyes narrowed a black suit… a black… a black <em>hazmat suit</em>. The same one that he was wearing at Axiom when he stepped foot in that laboratory.</p>
<p>He blinked, inhuman green eyes widening at his reflection in the abandoned house. That wasn’t possible was it? Was that it? Did he <em>die</em> that machine? Was he… his eyes grew even wider in the dark, illuminating eerily the rusted grill of the fireplace… Was he really…a <em>ghost</em>?</p>
<p>No no no… that couldn’t be right… a ghost? A freaking <em>ghost?</em></p>
<p>His mind shrugged traitorously; <em>it makes sense Danny. You can pass through solid objects, you can fucking </em>fly<em>, you don’t have a heartbeat. Face it. You’re dead.</em></p>
<p>Danny’s panic caused him to shake uncontrollably, he crashed to the ground again, landing on his knees. The scientists in the corridor… hadn’t they said that the portal ran on ectoplasm? That substance that called to him in the nuclear lab? The stuff his dad talked about non-stop? The very essence of a ghost, a spectre? Was that what the portal had forcefully shoved into his veins? Electrocuted into his DNA? Had his nutcase of a father really be <em>right </em>all these years? About ghosts? About his Mom’s death?</p>
<p>Danny’s breath hitched as he started to cry, thick viscous green, glowing liquid splashed to the floor, so alien, so inhuman, so utterly, utterly <em>wrong</em>.</p>
<p>He curled into a ball in the dusty floor of the abandoned house. Of all the things to happen to him in his life, why this? Why the very thing that could cast him out further from society? This kind of thing happened in fucking <em>comic books</em>! In the X-Files or Supernatural or Spiderman or some weird-ass sci-fi imaginary world! Not real life! Forget freak, try walking <em>target</em>.</p>
<p>Danny pulled his head to his chest, screaming, allowing his panic to build in his chest and burst outwards from his mouth. He no longer cared if anyone in the house could hear him, could see him, could tape him. He was dead, or at least halfway there that was the only explanation wasn’t it? The only reason for this numb, humming broken form that he’d been playing around with for the last few days. Dead. A walking corpse, a monster. Half ghost. Half human. Was he even human anymore?</p>
<p>Danny shut his eyes, his mind realising in slow horror, oh God… his dad was going to <em>kill</em> him if he ever found out. Not just as a metaphor, not just being angry. Kill him <em>again</em>, Jack Fenton wouldn’t care, wouldn’t even think twice if it was his son… he was so blinded by this hatred of ghosts that up until literally two minutes ago Danny thought didn’t exist. Turns out they did, or at least Danny did. As far as Jack Fenton knew his son was dead. And well, Danny’s mind echoed maliciously, at least he got that part right.</p>
<p>That was it. No one could know. No one was ever <em>allowed</em> to know about the accident in the portal, about what it turned him into. No one. Not his classmates, not Tucker, not Jazz or Aunt Alicia and especially not his dad.</p>
<p>Danny exhausted himself on his tears, screaming into the empty night. A glowing, ghost boy in the abandoned house on top of the hill.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. If You Knew What the Bluebirds Sang at You, You Wouldn't Sing Along</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Salutations! </p>
<p>Thanks for making it this far, we've officially hit the Double Digits of these chapters which I honestly Did Not expect. But I wanted to say thanks for sticking with it. I know my writing can be a little disjointed and mishappy a lot so thanks for not getting too annoyed with that haha...</p>
<p>Anyway, happy reading everyone x</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p>Tucker walked to school with his head down, his favourite worn yellow hoodie covering his eyes. The police had been at the Fenton’s till late into the evening as Jazz and Alicia made their statements about Danny’s sudden disappearance.</p>
<p>He felt uneasy, and also terrible that he hadn’t offered to help earlier. What a best friend he was not noticing when the guy who he almost considered a brother had been missing for nearly a week.</p>
<p>Tucker pulled at his hoodie strings, absentmindedly noticing the chatter and the laughter that flung around the same school corridor he had known his entire education. People leaned against lockers with friends, the opening and shutting of doors, Tucker watched it all with interest, new eyes.</p>
<p>How could they not know? How could they not <em>care</em>?</p>
<p>Tucker didn’t look up as he made it to his locker, pulling his headphones out of his bag and plugging in to drown out the noise of the high school corridors.</p>
<p>He had Physics first up and he would have smiled if he didn’t know that it was Danny’s favourite subject and he’ll be taking notes for his now-confirmed-missing friend while ignoring the teacher’s official statement to the class.</p>
<p>
  <em>“Danny Fenton is missing.” </em>
</p>
<p>That sentence, four simple words settled over a stunned class as Mr Herman, looked to the empty desk by the window. “If you have any information, please contact the police, we don’t know where Mr Fenton has gone or why, but as his peers you have a right to know.”</p>
<p>The rest of the class faded into insignificance for Tucker. He copied the words on the board as best he could into his notebook, but he didn’t read them, didn’t see the sentence or understand the thoughts on the paper.</p>
<p>Danny was missing. He was gone, and Tucker had no idea as to how to help him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At lunch the cafeteria was ablaze with noise. Some were speculating about Danny while others crowded noisily around some kid two years below Tucker.</p>
<p>He picked up his lunch and moved to the table at the back, barely registering the anything around him as people yelled and laughed. He felt numb with worry. </p>
<p>Sitting in the back of the cafeteria he and Danny loved to people-watch their fellow classmates, hypothesising the possible conversations they were having with one another, or what they were laughing about.</p>
<p>It was fun, interesting even. Danny would joke that Jazz would find it more interesting than him sometimes, applying her theories and babbling to Tucker and Danny about some case study that happened in the 70s.</p>
<p>It wasn’t so much fun on his own though.</p>
<p>Tucker picked at his dismal sandwich in mild disgust and contempt, not feeling particularly hungry. His parents had needed to leave early that morning and Tucker would hardly call himself a cook, even when he was making his own ham and cheese lunch between sodden pieces of chopping floor bread. </p>
<p> A scream shook him from his reminiscing, it was high pitched and came from one of the kids gathered around the two Year 9s. Tucker pretended to eat, deciding that there wasn't a whole lot more he felt like doing than listen in on the kids conversation.</p>
<p>“You really went into the Townsend place? That old creepy building on the hill?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, it’s just a house dude, nothing special about it.”</p>
<p>“It’s what’s inside that matters though! Check this out! We caught a ghost on camera!”</p>
<p>“A ghost? Come on, you’re just playing around, ghosts don’t exist. Certainly not in that place, it’s creepy sure, but haunted?”</p>
<p>“No I really mean it! We saw a ghost fully rise from the floor and stare at us! It even spoke!”</p>
<p>“Oh yeah and what did it say?”</p>
<p>“Well… it was kinda just as freaked as we were. But Louis got it on camera, didn’t you Louis?”</p>
<p>“Well yeah but…”</p>
<p>“Come on it’s the coolest piece of paranormal evidence ever found! The ghost hunting community is gonna call us heroes!”</p>
<p>“Uh, huh, and what be up there with “legendary ghost hunter” Jack Fenton? Face it Jake, that guy’s a crackpot! Don’t tell me you’re falling into that hole too…”</p>
<p>“No I’m serious have a look! I’m not crazy, there really is a ghost in Townsend…”</p>
<p>The kids shut up as the lanky boy with mussed hair, Jake, pulled out his phone, showing eagerly the video on the screen.</p>
<p>Tucker got up, walking over to stand just behind them, already wanting to punch something if someone said another bad word about Danny's family, “Mind if I have a look too?”</p>
<p>The kids looked at him quizzically but Jake shrugged, pushing the blonde boy out of the way slightly so that Tucker could see the tape.</p>
<p>It was dark in the Townsend hall, Tucker could see that much, the torn and faded wallpaper was in frame as the cracked boards and eerie light filtered through the frosted glass of the windows. Jake’s voice was playing through the recording, but Tucker wasn’t paying attention to what was said as the camera walked into what must have been the living room.</p>
<p>It was creepy, Tucker definitely could agree to that but so far there was nothing but the—</p>
<p>“See! Look there!” Jake screeched suddenly, pointing at the phone as Tucker adjusted his glasses to get a better look at the blurred clip.</p>
<p>A figure rose through the floor to hover in the centre of the room, causing Tucker’s eyes to widen and a <em>holy shit</em> to escape the lips of the guy next to him.  The audio chatter had cut off awkwardly as Louis’ voice caught in his throat.</p>
<p>Tucker squinted, the figure was humanoid in shape, and appeared to be glowing in the centre of the room, white hair rustling slightly in the breeze. Tucker stared as the Louis on screen yelled, tripping back and momentarily dropping the phone. Jake hastened to pick it up, turning it back to the ghost in the middle of the room as Louis started screeching again.</p>
<p>Tucker’s heart caught in his throat as he got the full picture of the person floating in mid -fucking-air. The eyes were a bright glowing green turned directly on the camera as Louis yelled again, turning sharply to leave Jake to the mercy of whatever the heck they were witnessing.</p>
<p>“<strong><em>No wait</em></strong>—” came the echoing voice from the <em>thing’s </em>mouth and even through the speakers of the phone, Tucker felt a shiver run down his spine and curl in his stomach as Jake ran, sprinting out of the Townsend house while the rustling and rushing noises of wind passed over the microphone. The clip cut off. </p>
<p>Tucker didn’t know what to think of that. He’d watched ghost hunting shows for fun, of course he had, what kid his age hadn’t at least heard of Buzzfeed Unsolved at his school? Or seen a horror movie where these kind of videos of found footage were littered with cheap special effects.</p>
<p>But that, Tucker would call himself a skeptic, mainly because Danny’s blatent refusal to believe in what his dad did, caused him to find more lies than truth in a lot of what was said about the paranormal.</p>
<p>But that voice, that floating, human-like shape in the middle of the room? Tucker didn’t know what it was, but he felt like it wasn’t fake, unedited, like something like that couldn’t possibly be made up. It was just too real.</p>
<p>He thanked the kids through a dry mouth and ran, feet thundering into the Casper High’s polished floors till he made it to the nearest bathroom. Ignoring the stares and starts that came from students and staff alike.</p>
<p>Tucker bolted into the first available cubicle and threw up in the toilet bowl. Shaking uncontrollably. He slid to the floor</p>
<p>There was something in those two chilling, echoing words that the ghost had spoken. Something that Tucker recognised…</p>
<p>It was a plea; he knew that at least. The ghost wanted help, <em>Tucker’s help</em>, he didn’t know why but he felt it in the familiarity of that voice. Tucker was just uncertain that he had the motivation to do so.  </p>
<p>He stumbled outside the bathroom and curled up on the ground next to the lockers. </p>
<p>That was where Valerie Grey found him.</p>
<p>He and Valerie had been friends since kindergarten, even when her attraction for popularity tended to keep them at different levels of the social spectrum. Around others they liked to play around with pretending to hate each other, but in truth they had too much in common to ever really be at odds.</p>
<p>Danny was about the only other person who knew of their secret friendship.</p>
<p>She tapped his shoulder lightly and he jumped, looking up startled as she rolled her eyes, “Geez, anyone would think you’d seen a ghost…”</p>
<p>Tucker felt his eyes widen and he looked away, his heart pounding in his chest. “Yeah well… what would you say if I said I did?”</p>
<p>She looked at him, eyebrow raised, but didn’t say a word.</p>
<p>Tucker looked up as she sat down next to him though, “I wouldn’t call you crazy… I’d… I’d believe you… you haven't lied to me yet at least.”</p>
<p>Tucker frowned, “Why? What's that supposed to mean?”</p>
<p>She shrugged, “I guess… I'm ready to believe anything you know? I want to believe that I could see him even if… I don’t know, it’s stupid … I know an animal didn't do it I mean, I'm just about out of options is all. I'd even accept a ghost...” She got up, brushing herself free of imaginary dirt and starting to walk away.</p>
<p>Oh.</p>
<p>Tucker felt like a complete jerk. They’d all heard the news, Damon Grey had been murdered at DALV Corp headquarters. Animal attack they were saying, but Tucker had watched enough TV shows to know that it was just an excuse for something unexplainable.</p>
<p>He gazed at his shoelaces, tugging at the flaking plastic ends. Unexplainable. Yeah, sure Valerie’s dad’s murder had been weird but was it really unexplainable?</p>
<p>Tucker didn’t know anymore.</p>
<p>“Hey… uh Val?” She stopped walking, but didn’t snap at him so he continued, “I’m so sorry…”</p>
<p>She turned then, giving something of a smile, “No… it’s okay… I’m still… I don’t know. I keep feeling like he will walk through the door y’know?”</p>
<p>Tucker gave a start, those were the same words Danny said about his mom after her death. “Hey if you ever need to talk to anyone about how to you know, deal with it all, I’m sure Danny would—” his breath caught in his throat. Oh right. He closed his mouth, looking away. “Nevermind…”</p>
<p>She placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up in surprise, “Hey, Tuck? I’m sorry too. I’m sure he’ll turn up somewhere... It’s not like he’s dead right?”</p>
<p>Tucker shivered at the thought, not wanting to think to hard about Danny lying in a ditch or behind a trash compactor at the back of an alleyway. Not breathing.</p>
<p>“Yeah… I suppose… oh hey!” He blinked, remembering what his mother had told him to ask as he pulled his backpack off his shoulder. He pulled a form out of the front pocket and handed it to her gingerly. “I don’t know if this is really… upfront of me or anything considering everything that’s been going on…” he took a deep breath, “but if you wanted a place to stay or… live even. Our door’s always open.”</p>
<p>She smiled slightly, tears springing into her eyes as she took the form from Tucker’s hand. “Thanks Tuck. I… I think I might have to take you up on that. The foster home’s nice enough, but I really don’t want to think of myself as… as an orphan just yet…” Her breath hitched on the word and tears sprung into her eyes.</p>
<p>Tucker softened, pulling her into a hug. “Hey it’s okay… I swear it will be alright?”</p>
<p>She nodded but continued to quietly sniff into his shoulder as Tucker drew small circles on the small of her back in comfort.</p>
<p>He closed his eyes, surely it would be alright, right? He would be able to work something out, for Valerie and for Danny and his family. Someone will know what to do…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Danny didn’t know what to do.</p>
<p>He thought maybe he would have woken up from this nightmare by now, but every time he opened his eyes all he could see was the grime covered ceiling with the stain in the corner of the basement.</p>
<p>He shut his eyes again. A banging on the front door caused him to sit bolt upright.</p>
<p>Oh no.</p>
<p>The yelling started as five or six kids shouted noisily into the empty house.</p>
<p>“Hello-o is there any ghosts in here?!”</p>
<p>“Yeah! Come on out spooky guy if you’re even real!”</p>
<p>Danny curled up into a ball even further. Maybe if he stayed really still, they would just leave.</p>
<p>A thundering on the staircase and laughter, they were coming down to the basement.</p>
<p>Danny transformed, feeling the warmth of life breathe air back into his lungs in panic as the static hum changed to a panicked heartbeat.</p>
<p>Bad idea.</p>
<p>The hunger, sleep and thirst hit him like a freight train and Danny’s vision went black. He gasped, feeling like he was being stabbed repetitively in the stomach while his throat closed up, he struggled for air, clawing at his throat until he almost passed out…</p>
<p>He transformed again, letting go of his dirty, torn clothes and human form. Collapsing in the relief being dead again gave him.</p>
<p>The kids had made it to the basement floor and Danny scrambled to his feet, head still reeling from the near-actual-death state his human body was in.</p>
<p>The kids rounded the corner and Danny knocked a paint tin over, wincing as the sound echoed through the room.</p>
<p>“There! Holy shit man! He <em>is</em> real!”</p>
<p>They’d seen him, Danny took to the air and shot through the ceiling, phasing out and up into the hall.</p>
<p>Another bang on the door, another group of camera waving truth seekers.</p>
<p>“Oh my god! Look at it! Wow…”</p>
<p>Danny didn’t even turn, he fled, speeding through the wall and phasing through the ceiling up to the second floor.</p>
<p>He touched down warily, hovering just a few centimetres above the floor. He didn’t know if it would take his weight if he let go of the lightness he needed to stay afloat.</p>
<p>“It went upstairs!”</p>
<p>“Surely we could get an interview?”</p>
<p>“Find out how it died?”</p>
<p>Danny clapped his gloved hands over his head. No no no no.</p>
<p>“<em>I’m not dead!</em>” He screamed, his voice echoed back to him, distorted and warbling.</p>
<p>There was silence.</p>
<p>He bobbed in mid-air, wondering if he was going crazy. Were there people here? Was this even real?</p>
<p>He mimicked sighing, allowing a cold breath out between his teeth. It made him feel better even if it didn’t bring him any relief.</p>
<p>The shouts came again, and Danny panicked, loosing control and slamming into the floor in fright.</p>
<p>Cameras and photographers, flashing in his face, as if he was some kind of animal in a zoo. He backed up, the hum in his veins accelerating to a whirr as he pressed against cold wallpaper.</p>
<p>“Leave me alone…” he whispered, the people pressing in further, “Leave me alone!” he said again, louder this time.</p>
<p>“Oh my god, look at his <em>skin</em>! It’s transparent. This is so fascinating…”  Another flash.</p>
<p>“Hey… uh… ghost of Townsend, gotta know man, where’d you get the suit?”</p>
<p>“Yeah! Did you <em>die</em> in it?”</p>
<p>Danny began to hyperventilate even if he couldn't breathe, he closed his eyes. “I said, leave me <strong><em>ALONE!”</em></strong></p>
<p>He didn’t watch as the interviewers were knocked back, did see as a wave of green energy erupted from his hand, the whirr of his heart pushing out of him in all directions.</p>
<p>Danny just phased backwards through the wall and flew, crying, into the sky.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He didn’t know where he was going. Didn’t really care either. All he knew was that he needed to be home.</p>
<p>He needed Jazz, needed someone to hold him and tell him it was alright like a little kid. Tell him he wasn’t a freak, that the people in the Townsend house had been wrong.</p>
<p>He was a 17 year old boy! He was in Senior year at Casper High and he had his entire life ahead of him!</p>
<p>Another glowing tear slid down his cheek as Danny floated over Amity Park, flying so fast his hair pressed back against his skull.</p>
<p>He didn’t even enjoy it, the view or the experience. How far he'd come in his abilities. None of it mattered, he just needed to get as far away from the house on the hill as possible.</p>
<p>He opened his eyes and started at the seaside, the full moon pooling white on the black water. How had he gotten here so quickly?</p>
<p>Spinning around, he cast blurry eyes over Axiom labs. That horrible place… Danny felt a wave of anger hit him almost as strong as the panic.</p>
<p>He started to fall and frantically tried to focus himself to save him crashing into the middle of suburbia.</p>
<p>This was no good. He’d never been up so high in his life, let alone <em>flying</em>. If he wasn’t experiencing such a rush of emotions and mind-fuckery he might have been actually proud that he’d managed to achieve something like <em>this</em>.</p>
<p>He dipped again and started to feel panic rise in his chest once more, he was up too high. Tucker’s house was close right? The Foley’s had moved closer to Axiom after Maurice secured the CEO position.</p>
<p>That was a safe place, right? <em>Right</em>? It was night-time, surely Tucker was home?</p>
<p>Danny, flew down to the level of the buildings, thanking God it was a misty night and the cloud cover was low.</p>
<p>He circled the block three times before recognising where he was. Everything was so different from the air. He crashed into the pavement painfully, not quite making the landing and skidding on his side for almost five metres before realising he’d made it to the Foley household.</p>
<p>Shaking uncontrollably, Danny stumbled to the door, raising a glowing hand to the doorknob and knocking three times.</p>
<p>He started, staring at himself in the frosted glass. Shit, he was still in his, for lack of a better word,<em> ghost </em>form.</p>
<p>Footsteps on the other side of the door, laughter even. Danny let the cold form drop, the rings splitting at his waist as he felt the familiarity of being alive rush over him.</p>
<p>But then came that awful hunger again, the thirst. The sheer exhaustion of not eating, drinking or sleeping for almost a week and a half. His body collapsed and he felt his breath begin to come out unused, ragged, scraping, his heart beating weakly against his chest.</p>
<p><em>Oh shit…</em> his mind echoed. <em>I’m actually going to die for real now</em>…</p>
<p>The door opened and Angela Foley looked out the smile on her face, turning into a shout as she turned back screaming into the house in shock and terror at Danny's malnourished form on her doorstep. She was yelling something that Danny couldn’t make out but at least he was safe.</p>
<p>Danny closed his eyes, and faded into unconsciousness.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. I'm a Liar, I'm a Cynic, I'm a Sinner, I'm a Saint</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Heya guys!</p>
<p>I wanted to apologise for this chapter being a week late on the update schedule. With everything that's going on at the moment with corona I had to get a whole stack of things done - namely work - before I went into quarantine and as a result I fell off the wagon for a bit on the fic writing. But now, I'm home and I should in theory get a bunch more WIPs and chapters updated thanks to having more time to do so. </p>
<p>Speaking of, I hope you all are staying safe out there. It's a crazy world we're living in so I hope y'all are staying hydrated and healthy. And if you aren't feeling too well I really hope you get better soon, it downright sucks being sick and I can't imagine what it's like at the moment. </p>
<p>Hopefully some fic reading will cheer you up!</p>
<p>Happy reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Vlad Masters awoke at his desk in only his trousers.</p>
<p>Wasn’t the first time that had happened, his mind joked dryly, but Vlad did have to admit it was the first time he’d woken up with blood on his shoes as well as in his mouth.</p>
<p>He walked over to the bar on the other side of the mahogany panelled office, pouring himself a glass of whiskey to wash the metallic tang out of his teeth. He was a mess, he knew that much, he could feel it in the way his bones ached as he moved.</p>
<p>It had been well over a week since the preliminary trials of the enhancers and Vlad was over the moon with the progress they had made. Or rather <em>he </em>made.</p>
<p>A grin spread across his face as he threw the alcohol down his throat in one motion, the utter power, the strength that flowed through him caused him to chuckle. The ectoplasmic enhancers were even more effective than he could possibly hope. But there still seemed to be something wrong with his formula.</p>
<p>Vlad crossed to the closet at the back of the room, he always figured to keep a selection of shirts in case of emergency business conferences or long hours away from his house. Pulling a light blue number off its hook and doing up the buttons, Vlad stared at himself in the full-length mirror.</p>
<p>The enhancers were incredible, Vlad knew that much, his initial calculations and predictions could never match up to the sheer strength that pulsated in those tiny phials.</p>
<p>Knowing this he could certainly never give such instruments and substances back to Foley, but it added another problem to his growing list. How was he to retrieve more?</p>
<p>He eyed himself in the mirror with a look of disdain, he was growing older by the day and he hated it with a passion. His eyes held wrinkles, sinking cheeks and failing bones. It was embarrassing, humiliating and weak. His hair had already greyed but using the enhancers made him feel strong.</p>
<p>Vlad’s mouth quirked into a grin as he opened the safe at the back of the closet, lifing a sealed test tube of the substance out gently, the most valuable substance in this universe. He was sure of it now, its potential was far beyond what he could possibly comprehend what any mere mortal could ever hope to gain.</p>
<p>But Vlad could feel it, under his skin, shifting in his core. Vlad Masters was no mere mortal. Not anymore. Something had changed, he knew it, but as of yet he was not sure if it was for the better. His reflection scowled back at him, bubbling through the green of the ectoplasm.</p>
<p>Vlad’s grip tightened around the tube slightly, he was a weak old man, pitiful and foolish. How he had been mocked for so many years, contract after contract falling through because people were so blind to the potential of power. What it could do.</p>
<p><em>It could be dangerous</em>, a weak voice muttered at the back of his head and for a moment Vlad hesitated to listen to it.</p>
<p><em>The power, it could destroy you. Change you irreversibly.</em> Vlad sighed, why was it so <em>hard</em>?</p>
<p>To continue with this was to deny the very fabric that made people human, the substance was not of this world after all. Who knows what it could do!</p>
<p>There was always a theory was there? About life in separate dimensions, that even if it did exist its genetic and atomic makeup may be so devastatingly different to that of ours that to mingle the two would be to destroy them both. If Vlad was ignorant to the dangers of power then he would be consumed by it wouldn’t he?</p>
<p>He placed the phial back, sinking into his leather chair with a sigh, holding his head in his hands. He couldn’t do it, he couldn’t possibly risk it! No matter how strong he felt, it was all just an illusion right? It could kill him! Or worse it could kill others!</p>
<p>Vlad looked at his hands, trembling in the faint light of the evening. He didn’t remember what happened when he first accepted the power of the ectoplasm, he only knew that it was a strength he’d never experienced before. But when he awoke… it was like a nightmare, the wreakage of his central lab, the destruction of his calculations. And of course, Damon.</p>
<p>Vlad crumpled; he didn’t know what happened! Damon had been a close friend! Vlad knew that! He didn’t know why he was dead when he woke up and he certainly had no clue when the police investigated. But somehow, deep down, he knew it was his fault… that he was responsible, and it was starting to eat at him.</p>
<p>This was the third time he’d blacked out unknowingly, waking up somewhere else with blood in his mouth. And sure, at first he was blinded by the rush of adrenaline that accompanied the dizziness of waking. The sheer thrill to be young again, to feel that power through your veins, its addicting. And its already caused too much harm.</p>
<p>Vlad stood, taking out the phial inside again and looking at it, maybe it should be destroyed, thrown away. No. No he couldn’t! This was too big of a scientific discovery for that!</p>
<p>But the metallic tang of blood caused him to stop. What if he blacked out and never regained his consciousness, what if he killed Damon, what if… what if Damon wasn’t the only one?</p>
<p>
  <em>You’re weak Masters. </em>
</p>
<p>Vlad stiffened, turning to the empty office. Was that… a voice? “Is somebody there?” he asked cautiously. The darkened office mocked him.</p>
<p><em>You allow others to hold you back, to trample on you, while you hold the power of Gods within your very grip. Give in Masters, and I could show you </em>true<em> power. </em></p>
<p>Vlad gasped and stumbled back, pressing himself against the window. What was happening? There was no one there! No one in the room with him so where was that voice coming from?!</p>
<p>
  <em>Come now Vlad, you don’t mean to say you don’t recognise me? </em>
</p>
<p>Vlad was hyperventilating now, there must be some mistake, he glanced at his mobile phone lying motionless on the desktop, surely this was some kind of prank call or…</p>
<p>
  <em>Look at me when I’m speaking to you, Vlad!</em>
</p>
<p>Vlad jumped, scanning the room, it sounded like it was coming from right in front of him. He stepped forward shakily, placing the phial down on the mahogany desk with a small clink as he walked to the centre of the room. This had to be a joke, right?</p>
<p>“Show yourself!” He called to the room, his voice bounced back to him, sounding afraid.</p>
<p><em>I’m right here Masters.</em> A soft chuckle reverberated around the room filling his mind and Vlad gasped, turning in shock to the closet that still lay with the door ajar. The full-length mirror reflecting the empty desk.</p>
<p>He walked to it warily, placing his fingertips against the cool glass.</p>
<p>
  <em>Well now, it seems you’ve found me. </em>
</p>
<p>Vlad could only watch in horror as his reflection shifted, morphing slightly as a grin spread across his mirror-self’s face.</p>
<p>Vlad stumbled back in shock, but the reflection did not move, standing completely still in its own reversed dimension.</p>
<p>
  <em>Ah now that’s better wouldn’t you say. Much more fitting that shouting at you from the depths of your mind. </em>
</p>
<p>Vlad opened his mouth to speak, cry out or do something but the reflection only grinned wider.</p>
<p>Look at yourself! Vlad Masters in the flesh, one of the most powerful men in the world, cowering like a dog in an alleyway. I’ll say it again Masters. You’re weak.</p>
<p>“Who are you!” Vlad finally screeched, this was insane.  </p>
<p><em>Who am I?</em> The reflection chuckled<em>, I thought it was obvious.</em> The reflection raised its hand and pointed at itself. <em>We’re one in the same Mr Masters</em>, it droned<em>, I am you, and you, </em>the finger turned on the man lying on the floor<em>, are me. </em></p>
<p>Vlad regained his composure, shaking his head, “This isn’t possible, you’re not real!”</p>
<p>
  <em>Oh, I’m real alright, real as you are, just far superior in every way. </em>
</p>
<p>“What do you want with me!?”</p>
<p>
  <em>To do what you don’t have the guts to do Masters, what you can’t, to remove those in your way. </em>
</p>
<p>“Remove those in my—” Vlad felt the colour drain from his face as realisation hit him like a freight train, “No you can’t mean… <em>Damon</em>?! You killed him?!”</p>
<p>We <em>killed him you buffoon! </em></p>
<p>Vlad got to his feet shakily, pressing a hand to his head, “No. No I’d never…”</p>
<p>
  <em>Now now, don’t be like that Vlad old pal, don’t you remember? You’re little accident in the lab? Or was it more like a blessing? You’ve wanted this power, yearned for it your whole life. Created me. You. Us. </em>
</p>
<p>Vlad looked at the reflection in horror as it began to cackle, Vlad’s own voice twisting inside his mind.</p>
<p>
  <em>Oh come now Vladdy-boy, don’t look so down! I’m your greatest creation! Why only five minutes ago you were ready to embrace me fully for the rest of your life. I don’t see what changed so suddenly!</em>
</p>
<p>“I realised I was wrong! That’s what!”</p>
<p><em>What in the span of two minutes you’ve flipped your whole worldview? I find that very hard to believe Vlad. After all.</em> The reflection tapped its own head, <em>I have all your thoughts right here, swimming and squirming in my little head as well. You can’t stand there and tell me you’ve never thought of becoming a God, of crushing those who stand against you. </em>It narrowed its eyes<em>, you can’t lie to me Vlad Masters. </em> </p>
<p>“No stop, get away from me!” Vlad scrambled to his feet, momentarily tripping on the woven rug as he sprinted to the door.</p>
<p><em>You won’t get out that way Vlad!</em> The reflection sneered, <em>no matter how hard or fast you run you can’t escape me. I’m already inside your mind Vlad. This is only the beginning.</em></p>
<p>Vlad made it to the door, twisting the doorknob but feeling his heart sink into his chest when he noticed it was locked. Locked from the outside.</p>
<p>He pounded on the door.</p>
<p>“Somebody! Anyone out there!? I need help!”</p>
<p>
  <em>My God, are you really going to make a fool of yourself? </em>
</p>
<p>Vlad turned panicked, it was just a voice, just a reflection. He was going crazy, but it wasn’t real, he knew that, it wasn’t!</p>
<p><em>Do I have to do everything myself?</em> The reflection sighed, and Vlad could only watch in horror as his reflection stepped out <em>through the mirror</em> and into the office, sighing as it did so.</p>
<p>Vlad trembled as the reflection picked up all fifteen of Vlad’s phials of ectoplasm in the safe and walked over to the man on the floor. But as it did so it changed, the light bending and shifting as Vlad watched himself grow taller, broader, muscles cording at his arms and neck.</p>
<p>The skin darkened to a dark purple until something so utterly <em>wrong </em>stood before him, wearing his face, his suit his skin but <em>glowing</em> in the darkened room. Black hair streaked with grey Vlad’s own eyes glared red down at his shivering body. It grinned, baring fangs.</p>
<p>
  <em>You’re pathetic Vlad. Look at yourself, you’re too weak to accept what needs to be done. But I can help you. I can show you true raw power beyond your wildest dreams. No longer would you be this cowardly, pitiful lump I see before me, but a God. A titan among men. Now, what do you say Masters? Or do I have to break you to make you see sense? </em>
</p>
<p>Vlad only trembled in fear, clutching his knees to his chest like a frightened child. “You’re a monster, I’ll never become you!”</p>
<p>The reflection got down on one knee so it could look Vlad in the eye as it held up the glowing ectoplasm phials and took the caps off one by one, each small pop causing a little more hope to die in Vlad Master’s chest.</p>
<p>
  <em>Too late. </em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Leave the Lights on When You Stay</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey guys!</p>
<p>Hope you all are doing well. I don't have a lot of things to say this week if I'm being honest. In fact I never really know what to say if anything... </p>
<p>Just hope you're all staying safe and healthy out there and that you enjoy the new chapter. I swear I'm trying to keep this as frequent an update schedule as I can. </p>
<p>Happy reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Blinding white light shook Danny to his senses, the sharp wafting scent of disinfectant causing him to blink groggily to the sterile grey of the ceiling. He was sweating like he just surfaced from a nightmare.</p>
<p>He coughed dryly, he felt weak, like he’d been slammed into by a semi-trailer truck.</p>
<p>He sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand as he tried to shake the lasting feeling of sleep from his body. Where exactly was he?</p>
<p>A moan startled him, and he blinked a few times to fight the fuzz as it pawed at the edges of his vision.</p>
<p>Jazz was sound asleep in the chair next to the bed, a book in her lap.</p>
<p>Danny felt a wave of guilt crash over him, his sister looked terrible. Like she hadn’t slept in days.</p>
<p>Resting his head back against the pillow to gaze at her with a small smile. He’d been an idiot, he knew that, maybe…</p>
<p>He looked up at the ceiling, maybe he should have just died, then at least Jazz wouldn’t have had to worry about him…</p>
<p>Danny looked at his hands, jolting slightly at the familiar warm pink of being alive and sighed. So he was back normal again.</p>
<p>He ran his fingers through his hair, sighing at the familiarity of touch, relishing quietly the feeling of breath between his lips. He put a hand to his head, noticing but not really feeling of the IV drip attached to his forearm. He looked at it, mildly annoyed at the inability he suddenly had to curl his arm. It was awkward.</p>
<p>But still he smiled, placing a hand to his chest he closed his eyes, sitting the the quiet gloom for a minute just counting his heartbeats. Feeling blood run through him, hot, warm and alive.</p>
<p>The pain was gone, he noticed blankly, his head wasn’t throbbing as much although the aching numbness of hunger bit into his stomach. He groaned, at least he wasn’t thirsty anymore, even if his throat was a little dry.</p>
<p>He blinked, lowering his hand to observe his surroundings, the lingering feeling of sickness that stamped the very walls with its tendrils. There was no doubt, he was in the hospital. He listened in the quiet, hearing the soft padding of nurses and doctors running to and fro, the beeping of machines and rolling of wheels.</p>
<p>Danny put a hand to his face, shielding his eyes, had he really been in that bad a shape? He didn’t even remember…</p>
<p>Danny sunk into the pillow gratefully, feeling the coarse brushing of the blankets, warm against his skin. He felt clean, newly dressed in a hospital gown but he didn’t mind. It was a massive upgrade from the rats of the Townsend basement. He sighed, feeling the fabric move and finally settled into a sense of safety.</p>
<p>He was safe.</p>
<p>Danny looked towards Jazz and couldn’t help but let out a small, almost inaudible chuckle. He didn’t know how long it had been since he was able to rest, the days seemed to blur together during his time at the Townsend House and Danny felt a pang of guilt stab him in the chest as he bit his lip.</p>
<p>He didn’t even know how long he was gone…</p>
<p>He had decided to just stay in the ghost form for as long as he needed. After all, he felt no pain or drowsiness from it, like he could run forever and never get tired.</p>
<p>He raised his hand again in the light. Did being human make him so incredibly weak? Danny let his hand drop in mild shock at himself. No, he was still human, he had to be. No matter what changed about his body, his mindset was still human, so was his heartbeat. That was enough.</p>
<p>Or was it just that he was running on so much buzzing electricity and energy from his accident that his body was just currently supercharged? He closed his eyes, focusing on that alien power within himself. It felt rocky, unstable somehow, like it was ready to burst and he sighed. Settling back against the cushions. It didn’t really matter how tired he was it seemed, his ghost form wasn’t going to let him sleep anytime soon, there was simply too much on his mind.</p>
<p>His training had been cut short, but now he was likely never going to get away with sneaking out ever again. Jazz would make sure of that.</p>
<p>He sat up again, looking at her sleeping in the chair, admiring the small wheezes she made as she exhaled and inhaled. He felt a soft smile creep across his face, she looked so innocent. He turned away, but would she understand what he was going through if he told her?</p>
<p>Danny cupped his forehead in his palm, staring at the criss-crossed patterns of the sheets, maybe he should let others in. Let them know. It wasn’t like he could keep what happened a secret his whole life. There was something about his new abilities that just wouldn’t let him pretend like they weren’t there, weren’t a part of who he was.</p>
<p>But to tell Jazz?</p>
<p>Danny shook his head, if he was going to do it, he should probably consider all his options first. After all, Jazz was like Danny, she currently didn’t believe in ghosts and telling her outright that he thinks he was now part-one, could shatter her entire worldview. But then again, she was a sucker for psychology and could be the only confidant he had he could trust. She could help him sort through the thoughts that were plaguing his every moment.</p>
<p>No, it was probably safer if Danny tried to sort things out without her help. He loved her to no end, but the problem wasn’t Jazz, but his father.</p>
<p>If his dad found out, either though Jazz or Danny slipping up somehow, Danny shuddered to think of what could happen. Besides, he looked at his sister’s sleeping face, they had already lost mom. What the hell kind of sibling would Danny be to tell her she might have just lost her little brother as well?</p>
<p>There was a soft knock at the door and Danny turned as it opened, the faint light of the hall cutting through the dreary gloom of the hospital room, settling gently on the covers by his feet. A very tired looking Tucker shuffled in, his glasses askew, he was holding a cup of black coffee to his chest like it was a lifeline.</p>
<p>Danny blinked in the sudden light; his eyes not quite ready yet to take in the brightness. He smiled in weak delight; thankful for the break in his damaging thoughts, he hadn’t really noticed how much he’d missed his best friend.</p>
<p>“Hey Tuck…” Danny croaked, trying for a comforting smile, but shocking himself on how weak he sounded.</p>
<p>Tucker flinched at the noise, turning slowly to the boy in the bed as if he didn’t want to believe it just yet. Seeing Danny, however, he let out a small yelp and dropped the coffee cup on the tiles, spilling the contents before rushing over to his friend’s bedside. “Danny! Oh my God you’re awake!”</p>
<p>Danny barely had time to open his mouth before Tucker’s arms were wrapped around his shoulders in a hug. He choked in surprise but smiled, raising a hand to grip the fabric of the other boy’s hoodie, pulling in the unmistakable smell of his cologne, horrible as it was, it was also so completely <em>Tucker</em>. “Hey…” he mumbled.</p>
<p>“D-Danny?” A small voice echoed from the chair beside the bed and Danny turned to see Jazz rubbing her eyes blearily, he felt slightly guilty for waking her, but as she blinked her deep aqua eyes at him as if making sure he was real, Danny almost cried with happiness, “Oh thank God!”</p>
<p>Tucker released him and Jazz descended, squeezing him so tight Danny thought he might burst. But he didn’t mind, he wrapped his hand to stroke the back of her neck, only stopping as the pressure increased from the sheer force of Jazz’s relief.</p>
<p>“N—nice to see you…” he coughed, and Jazz immediately released him, a hand across her mouth.</p>
<p>“Oh my God I’m sorry, are you okay?”</p>
<p>Danny winced, rubbing his side, “Uh yeah, I think so… just a little tender is all…”</p>
<p>“Tender?” Tucker screeched and Danny looked at him wearily, Tucker was staring at him with eyes the size of dinner plates, “Dude you were practically <em>dead</em>! How the hell are you just <em>a little tender</em>?”</p>
<p>Danny blinked and laughed hoarsely, “No… I think…” He stammered, looking at his hands in mild bafflement, “I think I’m alive…”</p>
<p>“Danny…” Jazz’s voice had cracked and he looked at her, his heart jolting in his chest as he realised, she was crying. Salty tears carving rivers in her pale, sunken cheeks, “Danny… don’t you <em>dare</em> do that to me ever again!”</p>
<p>Danny jumped a bit at the harshness of her tone but laughed, “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to scare everyone. But I’m fine now! See?” He smiled, hoping to make them see that he was alright, but Jazz didn’t, neither did Tucker.</p>
<p>“Dude…” Tucker said, his voice quiet, “Danny… you were gone for almost <em>two weeks</em>.”</p>
<p>Danny blinked owlishly, “Two… weeks?” Had that really been how long he’d been away from home? He looked away; no wonder Jazz was so mad… he felt his breath hitch. Oh <em>shit</em>, he hadn’t even thought of it, but Aunt Alicia was going to kill him when he finally got home.</p>
<p>“Danny…” Jazz said again, and he looked at her stupidly as she cried, collapsing into the chair with muffled sobs, “Danny I didn’t know where you were… you didn’t call, didn’t leave any notes... how <em>could</em> you? <em>How could you do that</em>?”</p>
<p>Danny felt his gaze soften and he swung his legs over the edge of the bed, crossing to sit at Jazz’s feet, not even noticing Tucker’s protests. “Hey… hey Jazz…”</p>
<p>She looked at him and he rested a hand on her knee, gently gripping her hand and rubbing small circles on her fingers, “I’m so sorry…” Danny said, fighting his own tears as he thought of what a mess he’d become over the last few weeks. How warped he felt, “I’m so sorry Jazz… I didn’t… I didn’t know what I was doing...”</p>
<p>He couldn’t hold on forever, the tears started streaming and he bowed his head, trying to hide them behind his thick hair.</p>
<p>She leant over, her auburn hair brushing his cheek as she wrapped him in a hug, a gentler one this time. She was so warm… He jolted slightly, why did this warmth feel so alien to him all of a sudden? Had he really become so accustomed to his cold secret that quickly?</p>
<p>Jazz stroked his back slowly and Danny reached for her as she whispered in his ear, “I’m so glad Danny… I’m so glad you’re safe little brother…”</p>
<p>Danny chuckled softly, his breath hitching in his throat, “Thank you…”  </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So, what exactly happened to you man?” Tucker asked as Jazz left the room mumbling something about telling the nurse that he was up. She seemed reluctant to go, but Danny forced her out, she needed to stretch and he needed some time with his best friend.</p>
<p>Danny felt his eyes widen slightly as he looked away, “I…” He grit his teeth. He didn’t know if he could tell Tuck what he’d been up to. What had happened to him at Axiom, about the portal?</p>
<p>Danny frowned, after all how believable of a story was it? That he was a ghost now? Or at least half of one? There’s no way Tucker would accept that! He shut his eyes in guilt.</p>
<p>“I don’t know if I can…”</p>
<p>Tucker for his part didn’t buy it and Danny blinked like a deer in the headlights as Tucker began to yell, “You’ve been missing for weeks Danny! <em>Weeks</em>! Do you know how it felt for you to just up and leave like that? The last time I saw you, you were collapsing at Axiom and the next time I saw you, you were malnourished and literally dying on my doorstep. Danny, I don’t think you realise how serious this is! The doctors said it’s a miracle you were even a little bit alive! That kind of starvation and thirst is well beyond what any of them had ever seen. Don’t you get it? You should be dead! And I…” He tailed off and Danny blinked at him.</p>
<p>Wait what? Was he was really that bad?</p>
<p>“You had everyone so worried, me, your aunt, especially Jazz. What the hell happened to you? I think I <em>deserve</em> to know as your friend. Heck you had every cop in Amity Park putting out search warrants! I just didn’t know what to do if you… if you were…” Tucker cut off, the final word fading on his lips.</p>
<p>Dead.</p>
<p>Danny felt the word mentally smack him in the face and looked away, curling his hands into the knitted fabric of the hospital blanket.</p>
<p>Tucker had angry tears staining his cheeks now. “You can be so goddamn clueless sometimes Danny. So utterly idiotic that it shocks me sometimes, it really does. So I ask you again. What the <em>hell </em>happened to you? Where have you been these last two weeks?! Why were you basically dead on my doorstep a few hours ago and now laughing like <em>we’re</em> the insane ones? I have a right to the truth and so does Jazz. You know my fear of these places,” he gestured at the sterile room, “but here I am. For <em>you</em>. So answer my goddamn questions!”</p>
<p>Danny froze, looking at Tucker dead in the eye. He’d never heard his friend sound so angry before. He hadn’t realised.</p>
<p>Danny cursed himself, he really was the dumbest person alive… or half alive, or whatever the hell… he’d made so many people cry over him, think he was dead… But…</p>
<p>“Tucker… I…” He looked at the boy sitting across from him, hair wayward under his signature beret and yellow hoodie. Glasses askew, Danny had never seen him so dishevelled. But he paused, looking down at his hands. How could he tell him? <em>Could </em>he tell him?</p>
<p>Danny looked at Tucker again. He was so much more than a friend. Heck, he’d go to so far to say that Tucker was his family… even as cheesy as his brother, although he would never admit that outright. Danny grit his teeth, as the realisation hit him, no <em>Danny</em> was the one in the wrong. He <em>could</em> tell Tucker.</p>
<p>He was sure of it now, as he stared at his friend’s all too familiar deep green eyes in the gloom of the hospital wing. Danny was never more sure in his life that he could trust Tucker with his life, with his very soul and the other boy would guard it to the grave. So what if he was half-ghost right? He was still Danny Fenton, he knew that. He was still Tucker’s friend, whether he was alive or dead. And looking at Tucker now, Danny somehow knew that the other boy wouldn’t care either way.</p>
<p>Even if he didn’t accept it at first, Danny figured, it was probably better for his own wellbeing to have someone on his side that knew his secret. Even if it sounded utterly absurd. Besides, Danny allowed himself a smile, wasn’t it Tucker’s father who had built the portal that started this mess? Maybe Tucker knew more about the actual science of ghosts better than his dad’s theories…</p>
<p>Danny took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his neck, what the hell, if he chickened out now then he’d probably never forgive himself, “Tucker. I want you to listen to me very closely…”</p>
<p>Tucker flinched but nodded, not saying a word. Danny smiled, “I… I know you’ll probably be angry with me… but I can’t tell you where I’ve been, well not here.” He added quickly as Tucker’s eyes narrowed, “Not right this moment. But when I’m out of this hospital, I… want to show you something… Just, please Tuck, please tell me that you’ll trust me, just this once, even if it’s never again. That’ll you’ll let me explain everything, as much as I have figured out at least and that…” he swallowed, “That you won’t push me away when I do? That you’ll believe me, no matter what?”</p>
<p>Tucker raised an eyebrow, looking at the boy on the bed his blue eyes pleading. He frowned, did Danny almost seem… <em>afraid</em>? Tucker looked at the ground, it was such an odd response to a question he thought was fairly straightforward, but he nodded.</p>
<p>Closing his eyes, he looked at Danny and nodded, “Alright. Alright whatever it is I’ll believe you.”</p>
<p>Danny felt relief crash over him, and he smiled, the tension in his shoulders releasing him as he hung his head so that his dark hair fell in his eyes. “Thank you Tuck…”</p>
<p>“Don’t thank me yet, you still have a hell of a lot of explaining to do. But I suppose…” Danny looked up as Tucker got to his feet, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “I should let you rest. Even if I still don’t know why, you need to get some sleep. So… I expect an answer once you’re out of this hellhole okay?”</p>
<p>Danny blinked at him but nodded, laughing slightly, “Don’t worry, I’ll be out of here sooner rather than later. I have a heck of a lot of homework to catch up on after all!”</p>
<p>Tucker snorted but nodded, yawning as he picked his bag up from the floor and slung it over his shoulder. “Hey Tucker?” Danny asked.</p>
<p>“Hmm?”</p>
<p>“You should get some sleep too.”</p>
<p>“Yeah… maybe I should…”</p>
<p>Danny watched as his best friend opened the door, causing warm light to flood the murky grey of Danny’s room.</p>
<p>He paused on the threshold, hand gently brushing the cool metal of the doorframe, “You know… I’m…” He turned back to Danny, a softer look in his eyes as he smiled, it was a tired one, but it made Danny feel lighter somehow, “I’m really happy you’re okay Danny. You get better soon alright? I’m holding you to your promise that you’ll explain your disappearing act.”</p>
<p>Danny felt his heart clench but smiled, holding a thumbs up, “I will. I’ll see you later alright. Thank you Tuck… for everything.”</p>
<p>Tucker grinned but nodded, stepping into the light of the corridor, as the door swung shut behind him. Leaving Danny alone in darkness.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. We Are the Kids Who Feel Like Dead Ends</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Heya guys, </p>
<p>Welcome back! Okay so I'm going to be real short here cause this chapters a liiiittle longer than usual. I just wanted to say that fair warning there is brief mention of drugs in this chapter.</p>
<p>It is very short and is used as a mild joke, but I also understand that maybe it could be slightly triggering to some people so I'm placing a disclaimer here. </p>
<p>Apart from that happy reading everyone!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Danny was finally discharged from the hospital two days later. His doctors said it was a miracle that he’d recovered so quickly, murmuring to Jazz that in his state he shouldn’t even be physically alive.</p>
<p>Danny laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head when Jazz stared at him in amazement. “Must be that Fenton metabolism or something… I don’t know…”</p>
<p>Danny stretched, feeling the sun on his face as he stepped out the front doors of the medical building. He looked at the street, observing the calm passing of pedestrians and commuters paying he and Jazz no mind as they walked towards Jazz’s car.</p>
<p>She was saying something to him, but Danny wasn’t listening. Guilt had been eating at him ever since he realised what him leaving had actually meant. It wasn’t leaving a dangerous situation, or even him making sure he wouldn’t hurt someone with his new abilities. It was simply running away from his issues rather than facing them head on. And that had hurt those close to him more than them finding out probably would.</p>
<p>The underground carpark smelt musty, like dust and old petrol. Silent cars waiting paitently in neat rows, the jumbled assortment of people who came to the doctors at Amity General for help, or to visit loved ones.</p>
<p>Danny looked away as Jazz hopped behind the wheel and started the engine. The familiar purr jolting him out of his musings as she looked at him sideways.</p>
<p>“You know Danny… I wanted to ask…” He felt a knot tighten in his throat as Jazz backed out of the park, “You haven’t asked for your glasses in a while… I just was wondering if everything was alright?”</p>
<p>Danny blinked, oh right, he forgot, “I uh…” He mumbled, “I just don’t know if they’re helping anymore Jazz…”</p>
<p>She looked at him sideways but thankfully said nothing, and Danny cast his mind to more pressing matters.</p>
<p>He’d made a promise after all.</p>
<p>When he finally got home, Aunt Alicia was waiting for him at the door, immediately chewing his ear off about where he had been and what the hell had been going on. Danny stood there through most of it, mumbling apologies until she exhausted herself and finally hugged him so tight Danny nearly choked. He laughed and rubbed small circles on her back, calming her down as she went to prepare lunch.</p>
<p>His dad was nowhere to be seen, but Danny had expected that much. With a sigh Danny thought he probably hadn’t even noticed he was gone.</p>
<p>Danny’s room was almost exactly how he’d left it. A mess.</p>
<p>He walked in slowly, eyeing the stack of notes from Tucker on his desk with a rush of both resentment and thankfulness that he may actually avoid falling behind in class.</p>
<p>Danny shook his head, peering out of his window to look across the familiar view of streets and buildings that stretched under the vast emptiness of the iridescent blue sky.</p>
<p>Why did he feel so uneasy? Danny leant against the wall, breathing in the smell of plaster and dried paint, the cool draught of air stinging his cheek as he gazed around his room.</p>
<p>The model rockets, textbooks and video games strewn and intermingled with his unwashed clothes were so wholly him he was taken aback. It was always so interesting that this room out of every one in the universe was so utterly his own. His personality reflected in the position of the Saturn V, his dreams in the reflection of the Apollo poster, his own thoughts tangled intimately between the threads of his curtains.</p>
<p>His phone buzzed and Danny jumped, at first unsure as to where the noise was coming from. Being without his technology for only two weeks had somehow made the small rectangle seem alien to him somehow.</p>
<p>He ignored the hundreds of missed calls and texts, emails and social media alerts as Tucker’s most recent words caused his stomach to tighten.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>TF: Heard you were out. You going to tell me now?</strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Danny’s eyes hardened in determination. There was no backing down, no leaving excuses for Tucker on this one. He had made a promise to a friend and it was not one he was intending to break.</p>
<p>As Danny pocketed his phone and headed downstairs, a small voice at the back of his mind asked quietly if this was a good idea. The traitorous whisper mentioning that Tucker could do anything with the information Danny had psyched himself up to tell him.</p>
<p>Danny beat it away with a mental stick. He couldn’t allow that to happen. He trusted, believed Tucker enough that to tell him the truth. No matter the repercussions.</p>
<p>He’d just made it a quarter of the way across the kitchen when Aunt Alicia stopped him in his tracks.</p>
<p>“And just where the hell do you think you’re going mister?”</p>
<p>He blinked, “Out. I… had promised to meet up with Tucker as soon as I was out of hospital.”</p>
<p>“Oh is that right now? And miss lunch with your family after we have been worried sick about you for almost two weeks? I think not. You can meet with him tomorrow after you have explained to me and to the Sherrif where exactly you have been all this time.”</p>
<p>Danny felt panic shoot through him like lightening, tell Aunt Alicia? Tell the Sherrif? There was no way in hell that was going to happen!</p>
<p>“No I really meant like, he wanted to meet with me as soon as possible, please Aunt Alicia, its important he wanted to… go over school notes with me before Monday, make sure I understand everything. I promise I won’t be long and I’ll be back in time for dinner…”</p>
<p>She looked at him and Danny gulped. Aunt Alicia was terrifying, capable of killing a man at thirty paces with a flick of her tongue and possibly decapitating one at two between her bulging biceps. She stood there fuming at him and Danny knew he’d made a mistake as the familiar tingling of intangibility began to seep into his feet.</p>
<p><em>Oh shit</em> he thought, mentally wrenching his mind out of the death stare Aunt Alicia was giving him to focus all attention on staying solid. This was decidedly <em>not</em> good.</p>
<p>Thankfully Jazz chose that exact moment to walk in, noticing Danny’s apparent alarm at his shoes and Alicia’s nuclear bomb timer about to explode just in time to cut the red wire. “Everyone in here alright?”</p>
<p>Danny and Alicia snapped to her with such force that she startled but shrugged. “Now before we all start World War Three, what exactly is going on?”</p>
<p>“This asshole thinks he can just waltz back out that front door after we just got him back!” Aunt Alicia roared and Jazz instinctively flinched before Danny threw his two cents in.</p>
<p>“I was going out to meet with Tucker… He and I had arranged to catch up and exchange notes about school. I thought that would be okay. I’m sorry…”</p>
<p>Jazz blinked, “Yeah alright… just make sure you come back soon okay? I’m serious.”</p>
<p>“Okay? Okay? How is this okay Jasmine? Daniel was missing for two whole weeks! You know as well as I that I can’t simply let him out of my sight now that I finally have him back!” Danny had never in his life seen Aunt Alicia cry before, but as the first tear started sliding down her cheek he realised how much of a problem he really was.</p>
<p>Jazz opened her mouth to speak but Danny cut her off, “It’s okay Jazz… really. I… I didn’t think of you both at all, or Tucker or hell even dad.” He felt his voice crack, “I just didn’t want to be a burden on everyone anymore! I thought if I ran away then it would be better you know? Jazz wouldn’t be paying my school fees, Aunt Alicia would be able to go back to Rhubarb and I… I don’t maybe dad would actually care for once?!” Danny felt his on tears start to fall but he continued, “I thought that if I went missing it would be okay, because no one ever notices I’m there! I feel invisible most of my life, at school, at home, it doesn’t matter, cause dad doesn’t care and neither do my classmates so what the hell if I just vanished? Wouldn’t it be better that way?’</p>
<p>‘But… I see now that I was so incredibly stupid, I was so utterly utterly dumb and stupid that I didn’t notice that I actually was here. That I existed, and that people actually did notice. Jazz, Aunt Alicia, Tucker, you guys not only noticed, but suffered from my actions and I have no idea how to make it up to you. To let you know how much you all mean to me because I was just too much of a coward to accept the fact that I was alive…” Danny bit his lip, he was shaking now, but he didn’t care. “I’m scared…” he whimpered, “I’m so scared that what I have done is so unforgivable that I can’t be redeemed. That I broke something between us, inside me, whatever the hell is left over from after mom died. I’m just so incredibly sorry for what I did, for running away from my issues like a coward instead of facing them head on, but right now, right in this moment what I need to do is to see my best friend in the world. To tell him the same thing and prove to him somehow that I haven’t changed as a result…”</p>
<p>The room was silent as Danny finished, the finality and truth behind his words even shutting himself up as he trudged up the hallway, rubbing his eyes to dry the tears as he looked back over his shoulder at his sister and aunt with a smile.</p>
<p>They let him go as Danny shuffled out into the midday sun.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tucker was waiting for him at the Nasty Burger when he arrived. He looked marginally better, Danny thought, showered at least as they locked eyes.</p>
<p>Danny broke out into a wide grin at the sight of his friend but Tucker’s returning smile was a lot more cautious and Danny felt his stomach drop. It was almost as if he didn’t trust him.</p>
<p>“Hey.” He said in greeting, shoving his hands into the warm pockets of his hoodie as Tucker eyed him suspiciously, “How have you been?”</p>
<p>Tucker sighed, blowing air between his lips, “Ugh, I don’t know. Kinda weird the last few days after all, at least I’m sleeping better knowing you’re not lying in a ditch.”</p>
<p>Danny felt a pang of guilt stab him in the chest and he laughed awkwardly. “Yeah… well…”</p>
<p>“So.” Tucker said, his voice adopting a tone so stern Danny blinked as his best friend peered closer into his face, “You gonna show me this thing or not?”</p>
<p>Danny took a deep breath and nodded. “You’ll have to come with me though, it’s not safe out here in the open.”</p>
<p>Tucker raised an eyebrow but followed Danny through the streets of Amity Park towards the park. Tucker wasn’t saying much but Danny tried to fill the silence with small talk, shoving the knowledge of what he was doing well out of his mind as he asked Tucker what he’d missed at school.</p>
<p>Tucker for the most part seemed to relax as they walked, his cheery demeanour even shining through as he discussed a new project he’d been starting to develop. Although, Danny knew him well enough to tell he was angry.</p>
<p>They reached the park and Danny took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of pine and fig as they walked along the cracked stone pathways and passages lined with the creaking wood of old benches and fence posts. He smiled slightly, he liked breathing, he took it for granted apparently.</p>
<p>“Is this where you’ve been for two weeks?” Tucker asked and Danny shook his head.</p>
<p>“No. Tuck. I…” Danny bit his lip. “Lets find somewhere private okay? This… could be a lot.”</p>
<p>The pair walked to a small clearing behind a few bushes and Danny checked the perimeter. “Dude, actual what the heck is going on. You’re acting like you’re being pursued by the police or something… oh God…”</p>
<p>Danny turned to see Tucker ashen white, staring at him in disbelief, “You’re not a fugitive are you?”</p>
<p>“What?” Danny asked, “No, I didn’t do anything illegal… I think…”</p>
<p>“You <em>think</em>?” Tucker’s eyes bulged, “Did you steal something? Break something? Oh my God, are you high?”</p>
<p>“What?!” Danny shrieked, “What the hell gave you that idea?”</p>
<p>“I dunno, only a crackhead would act as paranoid as you right now. What was it huh? Cocaine, weed?”</p>
<p>“Tucker I’m not taking drugs! Fucksake.” Danny pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, even when he was angry Tucker could be such an ass, “Look, the police aren’t after me and as far as I know neither are the government. But I need to make sure no one is watching us okay? This is a pretty big deal dude.”</p>
<p>Tucker crossed his arms, “Then spill, I’ll ask a final time, where have you been?”</p>
<p>Danny sighed. Fuck it right? “Townsend house.”</p>
<p>Tucker’s eyes widened, “Really? The old creepy place on top of the hill? Dude that’s kinda fucked up.”</p>
<p>“I know, I know.” Danny said, “I wasn’t particularly happy with it either but it was the only place I could think of where no one would discover me.”</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>Danny closed his eyes, “Remember the field trip at Axiom?” Tucker nodded so Danny continued, “Well… after Dash stole my glasses he basically left me for dead you know. I was in that corridor near the bioengineering labs, so I tried to find the rest of the group and… well, long story short I got lost.”</p>
<p>Tucker nodded, eyebrow raised, “You could have asked someone for directions you know. Like… hmm I don’t know… me? Maybe?”</p>
<p>“I couldn’t find you! That was the point! I got lost in those damn white corridors and well I ended up stumbling down the wrong one…”</p>
<p>Tucker’s face suddenly dissolved into a mask of concern, “Danny, what exactly happened? You look kinda pale, do you need to sit down?”</p>
<p>Danny swallowed but shook his head, he needed to continue, he couldn’t let himself stop now. “I found it Tuck. I found that… interdimensional portal thing your dad was building… but it wasn’t on purpose!” he added quickly, “I just kind of… wandered into it in the dark…”</p>
<p>“Danny where exactly are you going with all—”</p>
<p>“I turned it on Tuck.” Danny said, this time actually sinking to the ground as he felt the breath rush out of him at the memory of the pain, those bolts of electricity as they fried his skin. “I don’t know how… but the thing turned on while I was in there, the doors closed and I…” Danny’s voice caught in his throat. Was he having a panic attack? It sure felt like it.</p>
<p>Tucker crouched in front of him and gently rested a hand on his friend’s knee. Letting him finish.</p>
<p>“I… I don’t know how to describe it Tuck…” Danny’s voice broke, “The sheer… unbridled pain that…” his breath hitched, and Tucker felt his eyes widen. Had Danny been <em>electrocuted</em>?</p>
<p>He felt his hand instinctively pull back from Danny as his friend began to shake. “I didn’t know what was happening. The electricity the pain it was all too much Tuck and I… I think I collapsed? No… Tucker…” Danny raised his head and looked at his friend dead in the eyes and Tucker gasped.</p>
<p>They were <em>green</em>.</p>
<p>“Tucker I think I <em>died</em>.”</p>
<p>Tucker scrambled back instinctively, and Danny blinked, his eyes returning to normal, but Tucker couldn’t shake Danny’s words from his mind. <em>Died</em>? <em>Dead</em>? But <em>how</em>? Danny was right here, he was sitting in front of him, the same Danny he’d known his whole life.</p>
<p>Danny closed his eyes, no holding back, no going back, he was going to tell Tucker right here and right now, “Tuck… I think… I think I died in that accident, but I don’t know… I think I also survived somehow? Somehow I was woken up and I was still alive inside that machine. That’s when I stumbled out and found you in reception…”</p>
<p>Tucker’s look of horror turned to confusion, “But you’re not dead Danny. You weren’t dead when we found you, and you couldn’t have survived if the shocks had been really that bad right?”</p>
<p>Danny laughed dryly, covering his eyes with his hand, “That’s just the thing Tuck. I think I’m some kind of hybrid now…”</p>
<p>“H—Hybrid?”</p>
<p>“Yeah… like, Half-dead, Half-alive… or something like that.”</p>
<p>“But you look alive…” Tucker breathed and Danny felt himself stiffen. Ah, of course.</p>
<p>“Tuck… I need you to not freak out alright?”</p>
<p>“What? More than I am already? Dude your story sounds like a bad creepypasta, the whole half dead thing is kinky don’t get me wrong but—”</p>
<p>“Tucker please shut up.” Danny sighed and got to his feet, checking his surroundings to make certain they were alone, “You said I don’t look dead, well how about now?” he triggered his transformation.</p>
<p>Tucker let out a small yelp as the rings of light split at Danny’s waist, traveling over him until the <em>person </em>that sat down in front of him wearing Danny’s face made him scream. </p>
<p>Danny quickly covered Tucker’s mouth with his gloved hand and Tucker inadvertently shivered under his touch. He was so cold…</p>
<p>Tucker took a deep breath and nodded, patting Danny’s freezing arm in an effort to let go. Danny did so and Tucker just stared wide eyed at his friend’s semi-translucent form as he sat on the grass in front of him, his <em>glowing green</em> eyes watching him in mild terror and worry.</p>
<p>“Holy fuck man.” He breathed, “This is like all-new levels of fucked up.”</p>
<p>Danny sighed, “I know…” Tucker flinched, was his voice... echoing? </p>
<p>“I mean… your hair’s <em>white</em>!”</p>
<p>“Yeah. I noticed.”</p>
<p>“And your eyes… they’re green now then?”</p>
<p>“Apparently…”</p>
<p>“What the hell are you wearing?”</p>
<p>“I think it’s the hazmat suit… I think … well the one I died in.”</p>
<p>“Huh. Right.”</p>
<p>Danny blinked at him, “<em>Huh, right</em>?! That’s all you’re gonna say?”</p>
<p>“Well I’ve kinda got over the initial shock now.”</p>
<p>“Dude. I’m a ghost. Or at least a half one maybe? I don’t know. It’s the only explanation I have.”</p>
<p>Tucker blinked at the word, chewing it in his mouth before speaking, “So I suppose you’re the ghost of Townsend people keep ranting about. Wow…”</p>
<p>“What?” Danny said,</p>
<p>“Nothing, so a ghost huh… that’s pretty cool you know.”</p>
<p>“No its not!” Danny shrieked, wincing at how loud his voice echoed around the park, “It’s not good! It’s not cool, dude I’m <em>dead</em>! Both physically and mentally, I can’t even breathe anymore! I can’t sleep like this and I can’t eat or drink or do anything! I don’t even have a heartbeat!”</p>
<p>“That generally comes with being dead.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if my dad wasn’t absolutely hellbent on murdering something that I thought was a fairytale but oh wait. Is me now. And that the paranormal hunting community are practically two seconds away from tearing me apart for dissection! This isn’t supposed to happen Tucker! We’re in fucking high school! I should be studying for exams, not wondering whether or not my dad is going to burst into my room with a rifle and shoot me in the head!”</p>
<p>“Ah.” Tucker said, “I see you’re point.”</p>
<p>“Thank you.”</p>
<p>“Although you do have to admit this is pretty unique…”</p>
<p>“Well yeah. I’m a <em>ghost</em>.”</p>
<p>“Can you walk through walls?”</p>
<p>“What?!”</p>
<p>“You know... Do you have… funky abilities or is it just an appearance thing? You have to admit it’s a cool party trick but –OKAY WHAT THE <em>FUCK</em>??!”</p>
<p>Danny sighed as he turned invisible and Tucker screeched. He grinned and switched intangible before sinking through the floor, grabbing Tucker by the ankle and hoisting him into the air as he hovered.</p>
<p>“Okay this is creepy, this is definitely weird, please put me down, oh my God.”</p>
<p>Danny placed Tucker safely on the ground before lazily hovering over his friend’s head. “Satisfied?”</p>
<p>“Very. Okay, so you have what, superpowers now?”</p>
<p>“Well I don’t know if I’d call them that—”</p>
<p>“Dude you’re literally Peter Parker, lab accident and all. Oh! You’ll need a superhero name!”</p>
<p>Danny blinked, settling down on the grass again to look at Tucker in the eye, Tucker for his part didn’t even flinch at how unsettling Danny’s eyes were. “Why? I don’t think I’m one for fighting.”</p>
<p>“But you have to Danny!” Tucker whined, “With great power comes great responsibility and all that, you know? Save the world!”</p>
<p>“Yeah save it from what exactly Tuck? Communism? Taxes? Politicians? Zombie Apocalypse? There aren’t a whole lot of supervillains you know.”</p>
<p>“Yeah well, start small or something, volunteer work or helping old ladies across the street…”</p>
<p>“And we’re sure we’re not just handing out heart-attacks on silver platters when a <em>ghost</em> goes to help an old lady.”</p>
<p>Tucker pouted, “Well how about this then. You said that that portal turned on right? Well then that means that Axiom and Amity Park as a result have just opened a door to another dimension. Who the heck knows what will come through, you could fight that!”</p>
<p>Danny thought about it, “Well… I think it opened… I don’t actually know, I was kind of too busy dying to really notice… But I suppose you’re right…”</p>
<p>Tucker’s face lit up like a Christmas tree and Danny flinched at his excitement, “Well then you’re gonna need a name Mr. Hero.”</p>
<p>“Dude I told you I’m not a hero.”</p>
<p>“Oh shush it would you? You will be by the time I’m through with you.”</p>
<p>“Please Tuck, I’m not even sure if I want people to know about this? I mean it pretty much shattered my whole worldview when I figured it out in Townsend. That’s where I’ve been after all, I wanted to… I don’t know… train? Get used to this?” He gestured to himself, “I just can’t let dad know, you know? I don’t want to die Tuck… I was given some sort or miracle inside that portal that I somehow am still at least partially alive, but if dad knew that ghosts were real? He’d track me down and kill me regardless of whether or not I’m his son.”</p>
<p>Tucker blinked at Danny’s words but rested a hand on his friend’s shoulder, “Hey, I won’t tell him if you’d like. We can keep this a secret; I honestly couldn’t imagine what it was like Danny… And I’m so sorry you had to go through all this alone. But I’m here now, so thank you for telling me.”</p>
<p>Danny looked at him and smiled shakily, “Thanks Tuck. But you’re probably right. I shouldn’t hide all this forever. Even if I don’t want dad to know, I’ll probably slip up at some point… if I’m able to direct his attention away from me, Danny <em>Fenton</em> though, I might be alright… I’m just scared is all.”</p>
<p>Tucker snorted, “I can imagine, again, I don’t think I’d even know what to do if I was in your boat right now. But for the moment I think you were given those powers, this second chance or whatever, for a <em>reason</em> Danny. I don’t think it was just to torment you. I think there’s a bigger meaning behind what happened to you. And so, I really think you should at least consider being a superhero for me… ah! I mean, for Amity Park and its residents, just in case something comes along that’s biggest than all of us.”</p>
<p>Danny smiled and nodded, “Well then wiseguy. You got any suggestions on names then?”</p>
<p>Tucker smiled at looked at his friend, the new appearance was definitely jarring, but Tucker couldn’t help but notice how much Danny suited it. Like even if it was unnatural, it fit him like a glove, this ghost-sona of his friend. And, Tucker thought quietly, it didn’t change the boy he’d grown up with at all. Danny was still Danny, whether ghost, human or something in-between.</p>
<p>Tucker hummed in thought then let out a small cry of excitement. “I know!” He said, eyes blazing with determination, “How about… Danny Phantom!”</p>
<p>Danny blinked, “Danny… <em>Phantom</em>?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, cause even if you’re in ghost-form or whatever, you’re still you right? You’re still Danny, it seems a little dumb to change that even if this is a secret identity or whatever. And well, Phantom is just obvious clearly. Also it’s a play-on for Fenton, see!”</p>
<p>Danny grinned at the name, looking down at his gloves as they glowed in the sun. “Danny Phantom huh?” He smiled, it wasn’t a perfect name, and it wasn’t very imaginative, but… Danny thought, it was certainly <em>his</em>.</p>
<p>“I’ll give it a shot.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Why Do We Sleep When We Want to Hide?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hiya guys, gals and non-binary pals! </p><p>So I'm sorry I'm a day late every now and then with these updates. I do plan to post every Tuesday morning (at least in my timezone, idk what it may be where you are :P) and tend to schedule around that but sometimes it can be difficult getting in the right headspace for writing even if its a planned chapter. So I apologise. </p><p>It's also why this chapter is a little more scrambled, and at least in my opinion, of a less than great quality compared to others I may have written - I was working on an academic paper at the same time and got my wires crossed a few times between formal writing of the psychoanalysis of film and Danny Phantom can you imagine... I did however manage to plan this story as far as chapter 27 so I can assure you that I'm not going anywhere anytime soon!</p><p>Thanks for the continued support all you beautiful human beings out there. It mean so much to read your comments and I'll try to answer when I can, you all really inspire me to keep this bizzo going! </p><p>So happy reading everyone! I'll see you all in the next chapter! </p><p>(Minor swearing warning. I'm not funny.)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Danny was dreading going back to school.</p><p>It was worse than starting it he figured, cause instead of being the new kid in a sea of new kids, now he was the missing-and-presumed-dead-kid amongst a sea of not-missing kids.</p><p>Tucker had offered to walk in with him, so Danny felt a small amount of relief as he pulled his hoodie down over his eyes so that only the fringe of his dark hair poked out from beneath the blue fabric.</p><p>His small cotton shield was nothing however on the whispers of his classmates as he walked down the hallway. They assaulted him and Danny could only look at his shoes as Tucker glared daggers at anyone who said anything.</p><p>It didn’t matter, Danny could hear every word in pristine quality as he opened the aluminium safe that house his books.</p><p>“Is that <em>Fenton</em>? Danny Fenton?”</p><p>“What? No way! I thought he was dead!”</p><p>“I heard a rumour that he was, they found him passed out in an alleyway. Apparently, he hadn’t eaten in a week.”</p><p>“Woah, that’s insane. Do you think he got kidnapped or something?”</p><p>“Nah I bet he did something <em>really</em> bad and got so freaked out he starved himself.”</p><p>“Maybe it was that crazy dad of his!”</p><p>Danny felt anger rise in his chest, but he forced himself to stay calm. He didn’t know if he could—</p><p>As if on cue, Tucker jumped and tapped him on the shoulder, “Uh Danny… your eyes are glowing again.”</p><p>“Fuck.” He mumbled, covering his face again as he worked on counting his breaths until the tingling feeling went down from his eyes. He looked at Tucker sideways blinking, “How’s that?”</p><p>“Eh… normal.”</p><p>Danny breathed a sigh of relief and hastily stacked his books in a pile. He hated being out in the open like this, if he made it to class, he might just have a chance to hide in the back row. <em>Might.</em></p><p>Of course, life was a bitch and she couldn’t let that didn’t happen.</p><p>“Well well well if it isn’t Fenton.” Dash’s smile was greasier than his hair today and Danny was on his last straw.</p><p>“Fuck off Dash.” He snapped, moving to walk past the jock before a meaty hand gripped his shoulder.</p><p>“Hold on! What’s the rush! I just wanted to know where you’ve been all this time Fentonio? After all, you missed out little get together after the excursion. You disappointed me, I was hoping you’d be more of a man than a chicken.”</p><p>“I’m really not in the mood today Dash. Get out of my way.”</p><p>“Make me tough guy.”</p><p>Danny felt his anger flare, but he forced himself to stay calm, God why couldn’t people just leave him <em>alone</em>! Danny went to move past the jock again, but Dash shoved him in the shoulder pushing him back a step or two.</p><p>Their commotion had caused a few onlookers to stare and Danny felt a creeping chill run down the back of his neck. This wasn’t good.</p><p>“Hold up a sec Fenton. You can’t just go missing for a few weeks then just expect that everything is going back to normal y’hear me?”</p><p>“Oh I hear you Dash, I just don’t care anymore, see?” Danny scowled and walked past the jock again, this time making it more than five feet without getting hit.</p><p>Dash blinked and spun on his heel, like hell he was gonna let this dipshit off that easily, Dash swung a punch towards Danny’s head…</p><p>Danny felt a rush and ducked, that cool tingle of intangibility passing through his shoulder as Dash missed his punch and fell flat on his face. Danny blinked and looked down at the moaning jock as the corridor erupted into sniggers.</p><p>Danny blinked again, had he always been that fast? Dash groaned and got to his feet, Danny stood there looking down at him and felt a sudden urge to kick the other boy in the jaw. It was his fault that Danny was a freak of nature after all, Dash’s fault that Danny had ended up in that machine. If this jerk thought he could push him around—</p><p>“Danny?” Tucker asked and Danny snapped back into himself, looking down at Dash again before stepping over him and walking towards the classroom.</p><p>A shiver, like a cold block of ice sliding down his throat made him gasp and he ducked, sending a fist upwards. It caught Dash’s jaw and the football player went down like a ton of bricks. Danny put a hand to his mouth, feeling the coolness of his breath as it misted in front of him, that was new…</p><p>“What the hell Fenton!” Dash coughed clutching his stomach and Danny felt lightheaded, had he really just <em>punched</em> him?</p><p>Tucker looked at Danny in disbelief as the teen pressed a hand to his head, “What just happened?” He mumbled, swaying slightly before regaining his balance.</p><p>“Uh… you punched Dash dude. <em>Punched</em> him, like fruit-ninja, lightning-fast ducked his tackle and sent him sprawling. You sure you’re okay?”</p><p>Danny blinked and frowned, “Huh.”</p><p>The corridor was full of whispers again and Danny blocked them out, retreating back into his hoodie for comfort.</p><p>Dash for his part, didn’t even try to stop him a third time.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>***<br/><br/></p><p> </p><p>The morning passed in a blur to Danny. He spent 90% of it trying to block out people’s rumours and stares while the other half was focused entirely on staying solid.</p><p>He’d already managed to drop several beakers onto the marbled floor of the Chemistry lab by accidently phasing through them and the anxiety he was getting from his classmates made it even harder to keep his feet planted above ground.</p><p>Once, during recess, Danny had forgotten his footing on his way out the classroom and was sent tumbling down to the basement of the school. He honestly did not want to know why there were so many boxes of meat down there…</p><p>Lunch came and Danny made a beeline for the back wall, skipping the food line entirely but shoving his medication down his throat as he slouched in the corner.</p><p>“Dude you okay?” Tucker asked, the tray clattering and he sat down in front of him.</p><p>Danny sighed, “Yeah… it seems I’m not too great at this whole ‘controlling my powers’ thing when I’m riding a panic attack.”</p><p>“Ahh, yeah that’ll do it.” Tucker raised an eyebrow and Danny sighed again, burying his face in his elbow.</p><p>Danny didn’t think about how much of a relief it was to have Tucker know about his secret. It felt nice to know you had someone on your side who didn’t treat you any differently. He needed that. He needed Tucker’s stability even when the world was crashing down around him.</p><p>Danny looked up and gave Tucker a weak smile, “I’m sorry… I’m probably whining.”</p><p>“Well yeah you’re whining, you’ve been phasing through objects all day, I’d say that’s probably irritating… but don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll get into some kind of rhythm. It’s just you’re first day back after all…”</p><p>Danny nodded, “Yeah… but I better think up some excuses quickly, a small part of me tells me that I can’t afford all the beakers in the Chem lab.”</p><p>Tucker sniggered, “There’s worse things you could be breaking than test tubes.”</p><p>Danny smiled but didn’t feel like it, “Hey Tuck…” He said and Tucker looked at him. “Do you actually know anything about the portal?”</p><p>Tucker blinked and Danny felt a knot twist in his stomach. He’d been thinking about it a lot, how much after all did they actually know about the device? Danny still had no idea how it turned on or what happened after it did. Now that Tucker knew however, Danny was devastatingly hopeful that his best friend might have overheard something from his father.</p><p>Tucker for his part looked away. He wasn’t quite sure if he was being honest, the portal had been a passing idea he’d overheard his father talking about at the dinner table, but that actual goings on of what it was intended for was apparently a top secret. “I can try and find out D, but I can’t promise anything. Dad’s never been the best at talking about his inventions, and some of them that aren’t officially publicised, such as the portal, are like government-classified secrets that dad can’t even tell mom.”</p><p>Danny sighed and closed his eyes, feeling the cool plastic tabletop pressing against his cheek, “No it’s okay… I just feel we should look into it is all. Or rather I should, to… I don’t know, get some closure maybe?”</p><p>Tucker looked at his best friend with a small smile, who in the heck would have guessed their friendship would come to this? Tucker sat back, clicking his tongue absently as he scanned the cafeteria. He blinked, sitting bolt upright and Danny raised his head to frown.</p><p>He opened his mouth to ask Tucker what was wrong, but he barely had two words out before Samantha Manson sat down at their table.</p><p>Both boys instantly went ridged and Danny felt himself blushing like an idiot. He stared at the non-existent plate in front of him in panic, why was <em>she </em>here? Oh God…</p><p>“Um… hi!” Tucker said in mild greeting, but Danny could hear the confusion in his voice.</p><p>“Hi.” She said and Danny instantly regretted his life as she swung to him, as if expecting him to say hello as well. When he didn’t, she turned away, and Danny took a breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding. “I thought I’d sit over here for a change.”</p><p>Danny looked at her, “Uh… <em>why</em>? Don’t you… I don’t know usually sit with the A-Lists?” She shot him a glare and he gulped, “I’m sorry… I just… we’re a little confused is all…”</p><p>She peered at him and Danny felt heat rising in his cheeks, “You know… your eyes are really nice… when you can see them properly…”</p><p>Danny and Tucker blinked in absolute shock and Danny thought he was having a heart attack, “I—I’m <em>sorry</em>?!”</p><p>She started like she hadn’t realised she’d been speaking aloud and took a bite out of her salad, “I mean without your glasses, what happened to them anyway?”</p><p>Danny was so utterly taken aback by this, with everything that had happened over the last week the question about his glasses of all things was nearly irrelevant. Thankfully a baffled Tucker pitched in for his hesitation. “Uh… he got contacts, what does it matter to you? No offence Samantha but you’ve barely spoken to us in our whole lives. Why are you here exactly?”</p><p>She glared at him, “Is it too much to just assume I’m trying to be nice or something?”</p><p>“Nice doesn’t cut it where we are socially sister.”</p><p>She peered at them and sighed, “Man you two really are weird. I’m not an alien y’know.”</p><p>Danny and Tucker looked at each other’s bug-eyed expressions and just stared as she continued, “I thought I’d sit here. You don’t need to know why, and quite frankly I don’t want to tell you. That’s it okay? So, make conversation or shut up I don’t care.”</p><p>Danny felt himself awkwardly shift back into his chair with a grimace. “Uh…” Not good. <em>Not good</em>, he was panicking again and Danny took a deep breath as his feet began to tingle. Danny bit the inside of his cheek; God why was he such an utter dipshit?! <em>Make conversation idiot!</em> “So… Samantha… uh that English assignment am I right? It’s kind of confusing…”</p><p>She looked at him and Danny felt himself drowning in her violet eyes, God she was so pretty, “Um… sure. I suppose… uh Daniel…”</p><p>Danny bristled, “Danny’s just fine thanks… please don’t call me Daniel…”</p><p>She blinked and blushed, “Ah, okay… well then please call me Sam. Everyone else does, this ‘Samantha’ business is reserved solely for parental use only.”  </p><p>Danny felt himself relax and Tucker just stared at the two of them, he shrugged, sitting back with a smirk “Well, okay then Danny. Sam.” He stood up from the table. “I’m heading to the library. You two have fun!”</p><p>Danny snapped his head so fast towards his best friend that he was sure something broke, “Wait what? Tuck I—”</p><p>Tucker gave him the thumbs-up, whispering “<em>You got this</em>,” before walking off. And Danny felt a little piece of himself die. He looked at Sam.</p><p>She didn’t move.</p><p>
  <em>Shit. </em>
</p><p>They sat there in awkward silence as Danny held a staring contest with the wall. What the actual heck are you supposed to <em>do</em> in this situation?</p><p>“So…” she said finally, “I’ve been meaning to ask… about…” she bit her lip and Danny blinked. “Actually, never mind, it’s stupid. Thanks for letting me sit here.” She started to get up, but Danny felt a rush of heat in his cheeks.</p><p>“No, it’s okay… Sam… you can ask me…” He smiled and Sam looked at him blankly. She softened and sat back down, pulling out a dusty looking book.</p><p>Danny frowned at the cover, trying to crane his neck so he could see the title but she cut him off, “Well… I was going to ask if you knew anything about the Townsend ghost actually…”</p><p>Danny felt his eyes widen. Oh, <em>shit</em> <em>no </em>this was a mistake. <em>Definitely</em> a mistake. “W—why do you think <em>I’d </em>know anything about it?”</p><p>Sam shrugged, “I don’t know, you’re the only person I’d peg to believe in this kind of stuff…”</p><p>Danny blinked, “Uh why?”</p><p>“Well… your dad… isn’t he… y’know…”</p><p>“If you’re going to say insane, save it alright?” Danny shot back and Sam looked at him in surprise at the sudden change in his demeanour, “I’ve heard it all before, I don’t need someone else telling me he’s off his rocker, I live with the man! I hear him banging and crashing downstairs, muttering on about ghosts and how he could best dissect them or murder them or fucking blow their heads off okay?! So… please don’t bring him into this.”</p><p>She glared at him, “Well I was actually going to just say <em>ghost hunter</em> but fine, you can get defensive if you’d like <em>Daniel</em>. Maybe he is a crackpot huh? A fucking basement-dwelling dickhead just like his insensitive son!” She spat the words at him and Danny felt anger flare in his cheeks.</p><p>“<em>I’m</em> insensitive? What the hell did I ever do to you?”</p><p>“Well I don’t know, you’ve been acting really weird since coming back haven’t you? What happened when you were gone huh? The whole school deserves to know the truth Fenton.”</p><p>Danny felt like he’d been punched. Was that all she wanted from him? A <em>scoop</em>? His eyes blazed and he didn’t even care as he raised his voice, “Actually, you know what… No.” He said, loud enough for the rest of the cafeteria to hear, “I don’t give a crap what any of you dumbasses think of me, you get that? And no, I’m not going to tell you what happened cause its none of your business where I’ve been! So I’m sorry if I’m getting defensive about my own family Sam. I don’t know if you realised but I put them through some real shit these last few weeks and I’ll be damned if you’re going to go ahead make it worse! I’m sorry if you thought I might know anything about ghosts <em>Samantha</em>, but quite frankly I neither do or care. Have fun with your little side project, but if you’re going to talk shit about my family then I guess you really are no better than the other meathead A-Listers in your group. Just leave me alone…”</p><p>Danny got up, slinging his backpack across his shoulders, “Tell anyone who’ll listen whatever the fuck you want about me Sam, but maybe if you actually talked to someone instead of rushing into conclusions I’d still believe you weren’t as shallow as the others. I’m sick of you lot thinking you can just walk over whoever you want and get away with it alright? We’re people as well and we deserve to be treated as such.”</p><p>With that he walked away, leaving Sam blinking at the small of his back as Danny Fenton left the cafeteria and headed towards the library.</p><p>She could have sworn his eyes had been glowing…</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“I hate them Tuck.” Tucker frowned, turning to see a very angry Danny standing at the other end of the shelf, his hood pulled up over his head, “Who the hell do they think they are anyway?”</p><p>“Okay… and who are we swearing vengeance on exactly?”</p><p>“The A-Lists!” Danny shot back, “I don’t get it!”</p><p>“I take it the convo with Sam didn’t go too well.”</p><p>“She wanted to know about ghosts…”</p><p>“Ah. Why?”</p><p>“I don’t know, all I know is that she dragged Dad into it and I’m so fucking sick of him… I’m sick of hearing about his obsessions, I’m sick of hearing his ‘projects’ downstairs, I’m just so incredibly tired about people thinking I’m nuts or something just because I’m his son.”</p><p>Tucker didn’t say anything as Danny continued, “I just wish he’d get his head out of his ass is all Tuck. Realise that Jazz and I are still there y’know?”</p><p>“No… I don’t know…” Tucker said, “Because I’ve never been in your situation so I can’t assume I know the feelings you’re dealing with… all I can do Danny is be here for you if you need it.” Tucker put down the comic book he was flipping through and walked to stand next to his friend. “Hey… maybe we should try out some of your ghost powers to let off some steam?”</p><p>Danny looked at him and then to his hands, “That may not be a bad idea actually… I’ve felt… cagey all day.”</p><p>Tucker snapped his fingers, “Then we definitely need to get you somewhere to practice. After all, if you’re gonna go out and fight crimes or whatever, you’re gonna have to learn to fight in the first place.”</p><p>Danny blinked, “Dude, I’m still not even sure I want to fight crime…”</p><p>“Oh, come on, you could at least give it a shot! Beat up some bad guys, lay off a little anger, it’ll be therapeutic! Trust me, my Target loyalty card says I’m a professor.”</p><p>“Professor Foley?” Danny raised an eyebrow, “Why?”</p><p>“There wasn’t any gender-neutral options… it doesn’t matter anyway.”</p><p>Danny shrugged, it couldn’t hurt, “So where were you thinking anyway?”</p><p>“What about Townsend? It worked for you before, surely it can again.”</p><p>“But that place was swarming with ghost-junkies last time I was there!” Danny yelped, “There’s no way I can just go back now! Tucker…” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “I am the Townsend ghost after all…”</p><p>Tucker blinked and shivered slightly, “Man… I really hadn’t thought of it that way…”</p><p>Danny looked at him, “What?”</p><p>“Just… and please don’t take this the wrong way… but when I first saw that video of you in the house? I don’t know man… it messed me up…”</p><p>Danny frowned at him, “Wait, what do you mean?”</p><p>Tucker looked at him, “How do you think someone reacts to seeing an actual ghost footage! It spooked me okay?! And I was worried about where you were, and Valerie was dealing with her shit and seeing you in that house but a) not putting two and two together that it was you, which by the way was very near impossible at that point for me and b) the mental stress? Maybe I recognised your voice or something? I don’t know man I—”</p><p>“No no, I understand that Tuck and I get it cause wow, spoiler alert, I was also freaking out… but what do you mean <em>footage</em>?”</p><p>“Oh some year 9s … went into Townsend and filmed around, caught you floating in mid-air or something…”</p><p>Danny felt his heart sink, “So they really did share it did they… fucksake… I completely forgot about that damn video…”</p><p>“Danny what’s wrong? What’s wrong with the video?! You haven’t even seen it dude, it’s not that bad. It’s like Casper-High only stuff. I don’t think it’s gone past the school gates; most people think its fake anyway.”</p><p>Danny breathed slightly and slid to the ground of the library, bracing himself against the linoleum shelves, “Man… when did my life become a <em>Supernatural</em> episode?”</p><p>Tucker snorted, sinking down to sit next to him, “It’s not that bad.”</p><p>“It kind of is… I’m literally just missing a few angels and demons… I don’t know what I should do Tuck… but I don’t know if fighting criminals is the answer to any of it…”</p><p>Tucker looked at Danny and sighed, “I don’t know man, but I think you need some kind of outlet for this. You seem really antsy keeping this thing secret, it’s like… a part of you now or whatever, you can’t just hide it forever. It’ll drive you mad, like an itch you refuse to scratch.”</p><p>Danny rubbed his eyes, “Then what Tucker? What should I do?”</p><p>Tucker hummed quietly, “Danny do you believe in ghosts?”</p><p>Danny frowned at him, “What? Is that a rhetorical question?”</p><p>“No, it’s a genuine one. Do you think there are ghosts in this world?”</p><p>“Well I mean…”</p><p>“Danny if you say you are one again, I’ll lose it, okay maybe. <em>Maybe</em> you are, but at the same time, we don’t know what that portal did to you. You could have the perceived abilities of a ghost but actually… I don’t know... be half alien now or something! We’re not experts on the portal and officially no-one in history has torn a hole in reality before, so we can’t research this either. All I’m saying is do you believe that there are others out there? Other ‘ghosts’ or are you just finding the only conclusion that fits?”</p><p>“I—” Danny’s words died on his tongue, was there really such thing as ghosts? His dad certainly thought so… he even went as far as to say a ghost had been the one to kill his mom… Danny looked at his hand, willing it to turn intangible, then invisible, then back to normal.</p><p>He’d made up his mind.</p><p>Tucker watched him silently, “I… I don’t know Tuck… Truth is I don’t know what I am, I don’t know if I even constitute as human right now… but… what I went through in that machine… What I<em> felt</em>… It sure as hell felt like dying…” Danny closed his fist and watched his knuckles go white. “I don’t know why I was given this second chance Tucker… I really don’t.”</p><p> He looked at his friend, “But I want to find out. I want to find out what’s on the other side of the portal I opened, that your dad created. After all, if I made it back into this world… as you said yesterday, something could still come through from that one… I’m not a hero Tuck, but if something happens and something appears in this world that shouldn’t be here, if it comes to school or attacks someone or I don’t know… wants to take over the world or something…”</p><p>He looked at Tucker for the first time with complete clarity and grinned, “I sure as hell want to be prepared to kick its ass.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. You Should Have Raised a Baby Girl, I Should Have Been a Better Son</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey hey hey! What is going On my dudes? </p><p>So we're in for this week's chapter, and I can only hope it makes up for the mess that was the last one. Here I am, trying to advance the plot or something for ya'll so have some Fam a Lam Fluff. </p><p>****OKAY SO THIS IS IMPORTANT: I am currently working on my DannyMay2020 art prompts for the event on tumblr. Because of this and because of life I'm actually opting to go on a two or three week hiatus on this fic just so I can finish all of DannyMay in its entirety. This is both for my own mental health as well as sanity cause I'm also drowning in schoolwork yay yay yay. Don't worry tho, I will be back after that time with More Content and for you all to consume as well as being Back On My Bullshit Update Schedule!</p><p>I hope you all can understand this, hence the slightly loonger chapter this week to hopefully keep you guessing during this break. But hey! If you're interested in following along with my DannyMay stuff, I post it all here on my art blog: </p><p>https://paper-glasses.tumblr.com/</p><p>See you all in a few weeks and happy reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>Wow I am such an idiot.</em> Danny thought, “<em>kick its ass”</em>? Come on who was he kidding. That was such a bad line.</p><p>A car passed him on the road and Danny didn’t even flinch as the back water covered him in soaking wet. Without even thinking about it, Danny forced himself intangible, smiling slightly as the water splashed to the floor leaving him dry.</p><p>He wasn’t a hero. And he knew for a fact that he’d probably be more likely to freak out and run if anyone came at him with a knife. Ghost powers or not, he was still a coward.</p><p>Danny took a deep breath as he climbed the steps to his house, opening the door cautiously as he stepped across the threshold.</p><p>It was quiet, thankfully and Danny silently closed the door behind him as he slung his bag off his back, pulling an earbud free to welcome the warmth of home.</p><p>He stared down the hallway with a sudden wave of relief before making his way down towards the stairs. If he was lucky, he could get a solid lead on his homework before the test they had on Friday. He winced internally, he probably should have been paying closer attention today…</p><p>An alarm screeched in his ear and Danny jumped in panic as the piercing sound broke his brain in half. He blinked a few times before slamming his hands over his ears and walking straight into the middle of the lounge room shouting to be heard over the deafening scream.</p><p>“What the—is anyone around?”  </p><p>Jazz stumbled into the kitchen, glaring as the sound reverberated around the walls, actually causing the dinner plates to rattle on the shelf.</p><p>“Jesus Christ! What the hell is—”</p><p>“Jazz?!” Danny yelled, “What’s going on?!”</p><p>“Hell if I know— but—agh its really freaking loud! Did you set fire to anything?”</p><p>“Why would you think I did it? And no!” He shook his head.</p><p>“I’ve got one!!” A booming voice sliced through the noise as their father came bounding up the stairs like a dog. “I’ve finally done it! The Fenton Finder works!”</p><p>Danny and Jazz looked at each other in utter bafflement as their father, apparently immune to the hellish screeching, lept from one room to the other, waving a metal box in front of his face.</p><p>“What exactly did you find dad?!” Jazz yelled, “Can you shut your box up for a second?”</p><p>Jack Fenton whirled to his daughter and son who stood in the middle of the room and blinked at their annoyance. Danny watched in astonishment the exact moment a lightbulb lit up in the older man’s brain and he typed some sort of command on his device.</p><p>The sound shut of and Danny and Jazz both collectively breathed a sigh of relief, although their eardrums still rang painfully.  </p><p>Danny hadn’t seen his father since his accident and he suddenly felt himself freeze up at the sight of him. Could he know?</p><p>Jack spun on his heel and walked towards Jazz excitedly gripping her shoulders, a crazed look in his eye, “I’ve done it Jazzypants! God damnit I’ve found one!”</p><p>“Found what exactly dad?” Jazz glared and Jack’s smile only widened.</p><p>“A ghost!”</p><p>Danny felt his heart drop.</p><p>“A g—ghost?” He asked and Jack whirled to him in hysterics.</p><p>“Yes Danny my boy! A ghost, real,<em> live </em>and somewhere in this house! After five long years of waiting your dear ol’dad is finally gonna prove to the world that Jack Fenton isn’t some old kook!”</p><p>Jazz didn’t seem impressed, crossing her arms, “Well that’s just great Dad, real fucking fantastic for you.”</p><p>Their dad looked at her in confusion, “I thought you’d be happy Jazz! This is a massive breakthrough in my research! Well… if I can find the thing that is…”</p><p>“Well I’ve had enough of your research dad! For heaven’s sake do you even know what’s going on outside your own little bubble of self-importance anymore?! Do you even care?”</p><p>Jack’s brow furrowed, “Jazz… what do you mean?”</p><p>Jazz threw her hands up in exasperation, “This family! You, dad, you and your stupid obsession with finding out what happened to mom! It’s breaking us all apart! Can’t you <em>see </em>that?”</p><p>Jack went to open his mouth, but Jazz put up a finger, “Don’t you <em>dare, </em>Jack Fenton. Did you even know that Danny was missing for a full two weeks? Two weeks and you couldn’t bring yourself to even notice that your own son wasn’t home and that we were suffering? Do you even know what it’s like in the real world anymore? Or do you just prefer sitting down there in your basement making gadgets and machines that no one is ever going to care about?! Face it dad, you’ve lost it and you’re this close to losing us too. I know mom’s death took a chunk out of your heart, but you’re not the only selfish son of a bitch who’s been dealing with it over the last few years!”</p><p>Jazz was crying now and Danny could only watch on sadly as she continued, “I want you back daddy… I want you back in our lives but as long as you are obsessed with these ridiculous fantasies of ghosts and the supernatural, I doubt that’s ever going to happen…”</p><p>Jack stared at her, his mouth forming a small ‘o’ before Jazz glared at him and spun on her heel. Stalking out of the room with a loud sob before slamming the door behind her.</p><p>Danny and his father stood there and watched her go. It was only now that Danny had the courage to look his father in the eye. He looked like he’d been punched, and Danny silently was glad for it. Jazz was right, his father’s obsession needed to be put to rest right now.</p><p>Danny turned and Jack grabbed his shoulder desperately, “Danno… wait.”</p><p>“Save it.” Danny spat back, “You need to learn you’re not the only person under this roof dad..”</p><p>Danny jerked his shoulder out of his father’s grip, making a decisive beeline for the basement steps.</p><p>“Wait, Danny! Where are you going!” His dad was yelling at him, and he was very aware of the fact his eyes were glowing again, but he couldn’t care less anymore.</p><p>Danny put one hand on the balustrade and started walking down into the murky underbelly of the house.</p><p>In all the years since his dad had taken up permanent residence in the ‘Lab’ as he called it, Danny had never actually wanted to set foot in the dingy place. Now he was sick of it, he was sick of his dad’s coping mechanisms to break away from them all.</p><p>He stepped into the fluorescent lights and almost gasped at the size of the place. There were workbenches strewn haphazardly around the stainless steel plated walls, tools and sauldering irons, messily drawn blueprints and prototype weaponry were thrown about the area like a bomb had hit it.</p><p>Danny picked up the closest blaster like weapon and stared at the intricacy of the circuits. He knew enough from Tucker to know that this kind of tech was almost super-human. There was no way his dad just built this for revenge. This kind of technology was the kind that could obliterate a small star.</p><p>He frowned, there was so many things wrong with this picture he didn’t want to think about it.</p><p>Danny picked up what seemed like a cartridge for the weapon’s ballistic system, it was small and oozed with a crackling green energy. Danny blinked and pulled out one of the small phials that served as a bullet for the machine, it looked like a paint pellet, filled with that odd mix of glowing green and white. Cautiously Danny held it in his hands, there was something seriously, <em>seriously</em> wrong with his dad’s ‘research’.</p><p>There was a clang behind him, and Danny startled, losing his grip on the pellet as it was sent crashing into the tiled floor. It exploded in a small burst of green and white and Danny hissed in pain as it splashed onto his right calf.</p><p>The green ooze seared through his skin and Danny shrieked in shock as the crackling energy died down, leaving a white smoke trailing from his burnt skin. Danny watched in horror and astonishment as his own skin began to knit slowly together as his eyes burned.</p><p>There was really no question however, Danny knew that if he was struck by enough of those pellets. He would die. Again.</p><p>Somehow his dad, in all his crazy obsessions and fanatic revenge, had managed to create something that could really kill something already dead. A ghost.</p><p>Danny closed his eyes, he knew it. He knew he wouldn’t stand a chance if his dad found out his secret. He’d been paranoid sure, but now he was experiencing full-blown panic.</p><p>Here he was, standing in a room full of weapons that could kill him, weapons his dad built out of hatred for ghosts. The only real question was where exactly he was getting the funding? The materials? Who in their right mind supplied this level of biohazardous material to a crackpot living in their basement? Feeding money and supplies into a madman’s dream to kill the dead?</p><p>Another crash sounded behind him and Danny fought to keep his panic down, forcing his eyes to revert to their regular blue as his dad almost fell down the steps to stand in front of him.</p><p>For the first time in far too long, Danny took a real good look at him. The greased stained overalls and orange of his jumpsuit, the welder’s helmet that sat upon his unkept-salt and pepper hair. His middle-aged face was lined with deep hollows carved under his eyes. Danny was mildly aware of the bed in the corner of the room, but he was struck with the sudden feeling that his father hadn’t slept in days.</p><p>Danny looked away as his father laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. Danny looked back at him and his father shifted, “Well… I suppose I should welcome you down here. Seeing as how I doubt you’re going back upstairs without some… answers.”</p><p>Danny grit his teeth, “You’re damn right <em>dad</em>. What the actual hell?!”</p><p>Jack Fenton looked sheepish and Danny hated it, why <em>sheepish</em>? Was he sorry? Was he <em>apologising</em>? What the hell did <em>he</em> have to be <em>anxious</em> about? He wasn’t the half-ghost standing in front of a literal death trap! He wasn’t the one who was abandoned to grieve by themselves before they really knew what death even meant!</p><p>“Well… I think I found one Danny…”</p><p>Danny didn’t even say anything, he crossed his arms and glared at his father, hoping his anger would force his dad’s mouth open to revealing some answers to what exactly he was expecting to achieve.</p><p>Jack Fenton sighed, “Look… Danny. I wanted to say, I’m sorry. I know that’s not going to go very far after… well Jazz is right, and so are you. I’m… I’m a terrible father, aren’t I?”</p><p>Danny blinked, but Jack continued, “I just… I don’t know what to <em>do</em> Danno! I don’t know how to make this better. I’ve been down here so long sometimes I even wonder if I know what the sun looks like anymore, time is… It’s just a blur. I just… I thought I could help.”</p><p>Danny softened a bit. “Dad… you can help, but you’re going to have to stop using ghosts as an excuse! You’re seeing shadows where there’s no light to cast them, mysteries in solved cases. Dad, I know you want to find whoever killed mom, we all do, but obsessing over revenge like this? It’s not going to bring her back…”</p><p>Danny’s father sighed deeply, “I know you’re right Danny…” he laughed, “Hell, you even sounded as reasonable as Jazz there! But I don’t know. It eats at me, every night I’m tormented by these <em>visions </em>of that <em>thing</em>. Danny… you and Jazz didn’t see it but the way its eyes <em>glowed</em> I’m telling you it wasn’t human. It couldn’t have been!”</p><p>Danny tried to ignore the growing fear in his chest, could he tell his father? Did he think he could? Danny watched the older man as he removed the welder’s helmet from his head, placing it gently on the nearest workbench as silence bridged the gap between them.</p><p>He seemed so distant. Danny realised, so caught up in his head. He shouldn’t have been surprised at this, but he was, the way his father was so determined beyond anything. The scars that night had inflicted on all of them ran deep, deeper than Danny cared to admit but he still couldn’t help but admire his father, even now, for how much he truly did love his mother.</p><p>Danny took a step, then another, before finally wrapping his arms around his father’s waist.</p><p>Jack looked down at him in surprise but smiled, placing his arms on his son’s shoulders for the first time in years and hugged him back.</p><p>Danny could feel his father crying but didn’t say anything as they stood there among Jack Fenton’s arsenal of ghost-killing weapons and wept.</p><p>“Dad…” Danny whispered finally, breaking the unnatural silences that settled on the workbenches like a fog. “I believe in you…”</p><p>Jack Fenton pulled back and Danny gave a small smile. Didn’t Tucker want him to be a hero? Some kind of saviour? Shouldn’t he at least start at home before he started on the town, his father needed help. He needed a crutch or outlet or something the same way Danny did.</p><p>Except even if Danny was new to his own power, he had Tucker and Jazz to support him. He had his friend behind his back, to help him through it. Jack… didn’t.</p><p>He’d shut himself away a long time ago and that had cause his obsession to breed. Down here in the dark and the gloom, it had only gotten more intense as Danny and Jazz had left him to his nonsense.</p><p>Danny looked at his shoes. He was an idiot, not because ghosts were real or because his father was right but because he and Jazz had both been wrong. Jack Fenton wasn’t abandoning them, in fact it was the other way around.</p><p>Danny closed his eyes, “Dad, Jazz and I will probably never really understand why you chose ghosts over your own family back then. But I think… I think I’m starting to get why you did it?” He took a deep breath, feeling air pass between his lips, the sensations of life and being human and whole, “You need to stop now dad. It’s okay… you can stop chasing your demons, let Jazz help! Or me, or Alicia, but y’know… come up for air now. It’s time I think you saw the sun.”</p><p>Jack Fenton looked down at his son, standing there in his NASA hoodie and worn baggy jeans and almost laughed. Since when the hell did his kids get so wise?</p><p>Danny chewed his bottom lip, he couldn’t call his dad a bad person, he made mistakes, he let his obsessions get the better of him. But didn’t he do it for a reason? Didn’t he run away to try and bring some kind of closure to them all?</p><p>Danny felt a stab of guilt. Didn’t he himself do the same thing at the Townsend house? All this running away from problems, avoiding them where possible, he was getting tired of them.</p><p>“I know mom’s not here, but I think… I think she’d be proud of how dedicated you are to solving her murder. But I think she’d also smack you for leaving us high and dry to do so. Don’t get me wrong, you’ve got a long way to go before we can start feeling like a real family again, but we also need to learn to bury the past. Move on dad. Please.”</p><p>Jack Fenton smiled again, pulling his son into another bear hug, “Thank you Danny… I can’t promise I’ll be great, but I’ll at least try to be better… but uh… what about the ghosts?”</p><p>“What about them?”</p><p>“Well what if they end up attacking the town? Or that Ghost King comes back to finish us off Danny… We need to be ready; you need to know that.”</p><p>Danny blinked, Ghost…<em> King</em>? He’d never heard his father talk about that. He chewed his lip, “How about for the moment we take a break at least? Give you a few days to recover but dad…” his eyes hardened, “I want you to tell me everything okay? About mom’s death. About ghosts. Just… just in case alright?”</p><p>He looked away, his dad had spent five years of their lives researching ghosts. If Tucker was right about the portal. then his father may also be correct in his assumption of invaders or a war. There was so much about this world he’d found himself on the border of that he simply didn’t know the answers to, and if he was going to cross that threshold he might as well equip himself as best he can.</p><p>His father pulled away, eyes shining, “You sure about this Danny? The Ghost World can be an unsettling thing to learn about. And well, you’re mom…”</p><p>“Everything dad. But only if you promise to get some help alright? Now I’m going to head upstairs now okay? But make sure you call someone, talk to Aunt Alicia if you can without her breaking your face in. Please?”</p><p>Jack sighed but nodded, “Alright. Alright I’ll try Danny. I promise to try.”</p><p>Danny smiled and gave his father another hug. “I love you dad.”</p><p>Jack stiffened but Danny turned, walking out of his dad’s creepy laboratory and climbing the steps, leaving his father in the basement surrounded by his inventions.</p><p>“I love you too Danny… something tells me you’ll make a great ghost hunter…”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If any of you would like to pester me on tumblr you can find: </p>
<p>- my art @paper-glasses<br/>- &amp; shitposting @killjoy-karrot-kake</p></blockquote></div></div>
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